23 - 29 August 2001

Collective agreements and the Public Service

The two main unions last week mounted parallel attacks on the government after the latter made it clear that there will not be any revision of salaries until 2005. This, the unions said, meant that salaries of public servants will be frozen for the coming three years.
The Malta Business Weekly concurs with the government’s decision for a number of reasons. After spending more than Lm25m in salaries increases for public service employees this year, the government cannot be expected to spend a similar sum of money just because the unions call for a salary revision along with a new collective agreement for the period 2002-2005.
Although the unions have all the right to call for a revision of salaries and a new agreement, they fail to understand that such increases are paid of out revenue collected from private sector employees who are already over-taxed. But what is more worrying is that apart from the added burden on the government’s finances, neither the government nor the private sector is reaping any benefits. While public sector employees enjoyed substantive increases last January, very little change has been noticed in the service. Has efficiency in government departments improved over the past eight months? Have the number of abuses decreased? Has the public sector done anything to merit further increases in their salaries?
It is very easy to call for a revision of salaries. In the private sector this is commensurate with the employees’ productivity and efficiency. Those who deserve promotions or salary increases are those individuals who have given back to their employer what was expected of them. However, in the public sector this has not materialised. While the 33,000 workers have enjoyed a healthy increase in salaries, what have they given back to the employer? Nothing. So much has been said about accountability and efficiency, even by the two main unions. The unions are duty bound to safeguard the interests of their members. Yet, as social partners they also have a duty to take into consideration the country’s interests as a whole. The problem with trade unions in this country, especially in matters relating to the Civil Service and parastatal companies, is that they will not accept any attempts to bring about changes that will affect their members. They want salary increases and better conditions but they don’t want government employees to be more flexible at their workplace. That is certainly not fair and no government – irrespective of party colour – should accept this.
The government, in our opinion, is right in not accepting calls for a salary revision. On the other hand, we feel that if – and only if – there is a considerable change in public service employee attitudes, then the government should reconsider. Yet, it is also up to the unions to be more flexible with the government. If anything, they must accept the fact that workers today – worldwide – are becoming more flexible. Why can’t the government decided to utilise workers in one ministry and move them, temporarily, to another ministry or department that is lacking in human resources? Why are the unions against such proposals?
Then again, the government is also to blame for this state of affairs. It is obvious that the unions are going to ask for increases in salaries if they see that the government has the funds to give increases to its top officials. If a director gets an increase, why shouldn’t a clerk in the office enjoy a similar increase? This is the unions’ reasoning and they are right.
Another issue is the benchmarking exercise that the government has been talking about for months. How can the public expect to have an efficient public service if the government fails to implement the necessary processes to bring this about?
It takes two to tango. The government must get its act together and start the benchmarking exercise as soon a possible. Enough time has already been wasted (and the public’s money). The unions should be more flexible and accept that the public service is not that of 20 years ago.
We do not object to salary increases for public service employees, as long as these are based on merit, efficiency and productivity. As the situation is at present, civil servants do not deserve another increase in salary – unless they change their attitude and no longer consider themselves as having a very cushy job and no reason to be accountable to anyone.