Agreement over councils' clerks

The Union Haddiema Maghqudin has lifted the strike action it had ordered clerical staff to take at local councils after an agreement was reached with the Local Councils Association (AKL) over a collective agreement for clerical grades.

The agreement was reached after contacts between the president of the association Ian Micallef and the secretary of the UHM's public entities section Jesmond Bonello, yesterday.

The agreement will be signed on Friday.

In announcing the agreement the union said it was, with immediate effect, suspending its industrial action which consisted of clerical staff not accepting the payment of fines.

The agreement averted further industrial action which had been planned by the union for yesterday and action by the association to ensure that fines were collected. In a statement before the announcement of the agreement, the AKL denied the union's claim that it was dragging its feet over the agreement and had warned that local council secretaries were breaching the law when they failed to collect fines.

If such "illegal" action did not stop immediately the necessary steps would be taken so that the public would be offered the service it deserved, the association had warned.

It had also informed the public that fines could be paid online and at local tribunals.