Members of the General Workers Union (GWU) will enjoy better working conditions through a collective agreement signed between the Government and Public Entities Section and the company Support Services Ltd.
The agreement, which covers the years 2022-2025, is the first of its kind and regulates, among other things, the rights, and obligations of workers and even the way they are disciplined. When a person is brought before a panel, it consists of not just management, but three people – one from management, another from GWU and Chairperson, both of whom agree.
The Secretary of Government and Public Utilities, Kendrick Bondin, expressed satisfaction with the signing of this collective bargaining agreement, emphasising that it was completed despite the pandemic that made the process take a little longer.
He explained to us that the salaries of employees are determined by a government circular issued by Support Services Ltd, a company that tenders government contracts.
“We wrote in this collective agreement that we will see that if these circulars change, they will also be reflected in their wages. Thus we have a solid basis to continue our negotiations before the Government in order to fix the existing circular of the tender and thus continue to strengthen the rights of the workers especially the financial ones.
“This is a foundation that is helping our start in a more structured way to address the rights that these workers still have in every medical and care entity they give in order to reflect their duties and be compensated. for the ongoing work they are doing, ”Mr Bondin said.
For her part, the Chief Executive of Support Services Ltd, Charlotte Sant Portanier told us that “this is the first collective agreement signed with the GWU. The pandemic didn’t help much. The employee is very important to us. It was a process although in the long run we managed to reach it and it was a very leading one.”
On behalf of the GWU, Secretary Kendrick Bondin, Assistant Secretary Lawrence Bugeja and shop stewards Josephine Borg, Nanette Caruana, Joanne Tanti and Silvia Cassar signed.
The company was signed on behalf of Chief Executive Charlotte Sant Portanier, General Manager Charlo Farrugia, Operations Manager Mark Grech and HR Manager Raisa Rizzo.
Also present at the signing was General Workers’ Union Secretary General Josef Bugeja.
