New collective agreement signed between FSWS and UHM

A new collective agreement has been signed between the Foundation for Social Welfare Services and UHM Voice of the Workers, the Ministry for Social Policy and Children’s Rights stated on Monday.

This collective agreement, which covers the years 2023 to 2027, adjusted the salaries of FSWS management to reflect the improvement in the wages and salaries of the rest of the FSWS workers following the collective agreement which was signed in April, the Ministry said. It continued that the same agreement also provides for the continuity of the essential services of the FSWS, and added that there are also provisions for the professional development of management members.

“Thus, the relativity that existed before has now been restored,” the Ministry stated. It continued that negotiations took place under the direction of the Industrial Relations Unit within the Office of the Prime Minister and Permanent Secretary Mark Musu.

The Chief Executive of the FSWS, Alfred Grixti, remarked that this agreement is the first of its kind. He said that it has brought back the relativity of management prior to the collective agreement which was signed in April, and added that an agreement was made with UHM which confirms that the relativity between management and the degrees covered by the general collective agreement has been reinstated.

Josef Vella, the General Secretary of UHM, said that UHM is proud to have arrived at this conclusion following constructive negotiations which did not take an exaggerated amount of time. “I also want to say that as a union, we express our assertiveness by closing collective agreements. I want to thank the Permanent Secretary Dr Cassar, the Industrial Relations Unit, the FSWS management, the workers and the delegates at UHM, all the workers who after all voted for this collective agreement which passed by a 100% majority. So we can't not be happy with this outcome that we have here today."

The collective agreement was signed in the presence of Minister Michael Falzon, Permanent Secretary Joyce Cassar, as well as Mario Grixti and Therese Formosa from the Industrial Relations Unit, along with representatives of FSWS and UHM.