Psychologists reach last minute agreement on public service collective agreement

A last-minute agreement was reached between government and the union of psychologists barely two hours before the signing of the long-awaited civil service collective agreement.

The Malta Union of Professional Psychologists (MUPP) had announced that it would not join other unions in signing the agreement however during a press conference held in Floriana this afternoon it was announced that there was a breakthrough in the negotiations.

The union said that the press conference was called on Sunday because no agreement was reached up to that point, however 15 minutes before the press conference itself, the union reached an agreement with the government.

Bernard Caruana from the psychologists' union explained that they will sign the agreement with all other unions at Castile later this afternoon although the union does not have the written agreement at hand. However the two sides have committed themselves to sign the full agreement later this week.

Caruana said that the initial difficulties emerged from differences on the sectorial agreement. "This morning we had a number of urgent meetings and at 1:45pm an agreement was reached. Therefore we will be signing the agreement together with all other unions later this afternoon."

He noted that despite the two parties have been locked in discussions for the last four years, no concrete proposals were received before the press conference was called.

Caruana did not go into detail about what was causing the deadlock, however he said the agreement will now regularise the conditions for psychologists working in the public sector.

In addition, he noted that psychologists will not receive a wage rise but a number of coordination and case-load allowances will be introduced. The structure of grading will also be improved as a result of the agreement.

The collective agreement for the civil service will be signed today at Castille after government and some unions, namely Forum and the General Workers Union raised some points of contention.

The agreement will see civil servants receive a 2.5% wage rise for the next five years. The agreement is expected to raise the government wage bill by around €12 million a year.

The 30,000 civil servants had been waiting for the signing of a new collective agreement since the expiry of the previous agreement in 2010. 

The new collective agreement which was trashed out in recent months, comes just months before the looming general election.

Government's nearly 30,000-strong workforce will not be the only ones to enjoy the pay rise but retired public servants will also see an increase in their pensions.

The new agreement also includes a number of family-friendly measures including the introduction of flexitime for personal reasons and the facility to take part of the available vacation leave on an hourly basis.