Strike action by local councils’ executive secretaries has stalled meetings and decisions while deputy secretaries and mayors have had to step in and step up to keep the wheels turning.

The dispute regarding the executive secretaries’ financial package and other conditions has been going on for almost two months now and some local councils have not met in weeks because the law requires them to attend.

However, in many cases, deputy secretaries, who form part of the clerical staff, have been unaffected by the action and able to do the job, Mario Fava, president of the Local Councils’ Association, said.

Talks were ongoing and he was hopeful progress would be registered at a meeting today and a solution found in the coming days, adding it was “in the best interest of everyone involved and even for the residents”.

Counter proposals have been formulated by management and passed onto the UĦM Voice of the Workers, which represents the executive secretaries, Fava said.

“If they call off the industrial action and accept the financial package, other pending issues could be discussed,” he said.

Executive secretaries more important than mayors

However, the directives will only be lifted once the UĦM receives a “commitment and confirmation from the government that all pending issues are up for discussion”, the union’s assistant director, Mario Sacco said.

The issues in question were a “mix”, which did not only involve payment but also employment status and they all needed to be addressed and adequate solutions found first, he added.

Sources warned some local councils were “almost at a standstill” because executive secretaries were “more important than mayors” for their administrative role.

But Fava said others were trying to work around it, while mayors were going beyond their call of duty.

The industrial dispute concerns the 68 executive secretaries of every local council, who first stopped answering calls and e-mails until action was escalated to stop attending local council meetings.

This has meant urgent matters could not be discussed and projects and budgets could not be approved in some localities.