TEAM union leads fight to stop new attacks on employment and workplace rights

The IUF-affiliated TEAM (Tourism Employees Association of Maldives) has been actively mobilising to defeat proposed changes to employment law that would weaken the country’s few existing worker protections at a time of crisis and set back the fight for basic rights in the country. Maldives has no legal industrial relations framework based on trade union and collective bargaining rights – only an Employment Act that is not fit for purpose.
Changes to the Employment Act drafted by the Ministry of Economic Development in February would facilitate mass retrenchment and the targeted dismissal of union members and enhance employer discretion in distributing the service charges on which workers depend, among other measures. The changes were unilaterally introduced, excluding TEAM and other unions, and the government has not responded to union concerns.