Landmark judgement reached for Civil Protection workers

In a landmark judgement the Court of Appeal has given government four months’ time to set up a committee which should have been in place since 1975, according to the laws which regulate employment.

24 February 2012, 12:00am
by Karl Stagno-Navarra

1 min read

Court of Appeal grants Civil Protection Association the right of a joint negotiating council with government

The Court of Appeal presided by Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri and judges Alberto Magri and Tonio Mallia overturned a ruling given in 2007 by the lower courts and has granted the Civil Protection Association the right to nominate council members on a legally established joint negotiating council which was never set up by consecutive governments.

This negotiating joint council established by law in 1975 technically obliges government to jointly discuss matters regarding welfare, pay, bonuses and other matters for non-disciplined sectors of workers such as Civil Protection and Air Traffic Controllers who offer an essential service to the nation and have no right to strike.

Should no agreement be reached within the joint negotiating council, the law provides for any pending issue to be referred before the industrial tribunal that would take a definite decision.

Given the current situation where a joint negotiating council was never established, the Court of Appeal obliged government to establish this council within four months and to negotiate with the CPD regarding pending matters on the workers' welfare.

In a press conference addressed soon after the judgement, lawyers Ian Spiteri Bayliss and Edward Gatt said that this was a landmark decision which paved the way for all other associations which fall under the same category to find redress on issues regarding their welfare.

Spiteri Bayliss said that the Civil Protection Association now awaits government to nominate its members on this council.