All workers in the public sector are to have their wages topped up by an additional €6.41 weekly, for their pay to reflect the €12.81 Cost of Living Adjustment given in the last Budget.
The increase, announced on Tuesday by the Office of the Prime Minister in conjunction with four major unions, will be over-and-above increments given to public sector workers in line with collective agreements, which include a COLA element.
It is the second consecutive year that public sector workers are getting a salary top-up to make up for higher COLA rates caused by rising inflation.
Earlier in November, Malta’s trade unions joined forces to demand an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Robert Abela over a missing additional cost-of-living-allowance mechanism for public sector and public service employees that would allow them to get the full COLA payment.
The unions expressed concern over the impact on workers following the omission of the relativity adjustment in the COLA mechanism announced in the budget.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, the Office of the Prime Minister, the Confederation of Malta Trade Unions, For.U.M., the General Workers’ Union and the UĦM Voice of the Workers said an agreement has been reached for public administration workers to get an additional €6.41 increase to reflect the €12.81 COLA given in the last budget.
Those unions and the government are expected to start talks over a new collective agreement for public sector workers in the first months of 2024, which expires at the end of that year.
In its statement, the government said that the first issue to be discussed during those talks will be pay relativity among public sector workers - an issue understood to be of significant concern to unions.
Unions argue that salary increases should be proportional to workers' existing salary scales, to ensure relativity within the public sector workforce.
On the government side, talks were led by Prime Minister Robert Abela and Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, accompanied by Junior Minister Andy Ellul, Principal Permanent Secretary Tony Sultana and OPM Permanent Secretary Joyce Cassar.
Unions were represented by Paul Pace on behalf of For.U.M., Josef Bugeja representing GWU, Josef Vella on behalf of UĦM- Voice of the Workers and William Portelli for CMTU.