Government agency ‘hires clerks on self-employed basis’
A government agency employed clerks on a self-employed contract in breach of an electoral pledge to stop the practice, a top union official said. The general secretary of the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin, Gejtu Vella said yesterday the government’s...
A government agency employed clerks on a self-employed contract in breach of an electoral pledge to stop the practice, a top union official said.
The general secretary of the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin, Gejtu Vella said yesterday the government’s behaviour was “unacceptable”, ignoring the notion that the public service should be a model employer.
Unions oppose such a practice because self-employed contracts do not provide job security and deprive workers of their basic rights, which full-time employees are entitled to.
Mr Vella said the excuse often made by government officials was that such contracts normally covered management or consultancy roles required for given periods.
“However, in this case, the government agency contracted clerks and the union will be taking up the issue in the New Year to have their position regularised,” Mr Vella said, adding the UĦM would keep on insisting the government would honour its electoral pledge to stop the practice.
Addressing union section secretaries, shop stewards and delegates during a reception at the UĦM headquarters, Mr Vella said a top priority for next year would be the unionisation of uniformed corps personnel.
He lamented that the union only received an acknowledgment from the Office of the Prime Minister to its query about the unionisation of soldiers, policemen, prison warders and civil protection personnel seven months ago. This was “unacceptable”.
Just before addressing the crowd, Mr Vella informed union officials Malta Enterprise had officially recognised the union after lengthy discussions.