The General Workers Union this morning praised the government after it laid down minimum working conditions in a call for tenders for the engagement of local wardens.

Cory Greenland, secretary of the union’s professional services section, said the union had long been complaining of exploitation by some employers of security officers.

He said that in the case of the wardens, Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said, who is spearheading the reform of local law enforcement, had included clauses laying down the minimum salary and working conditions of the wardens, as part of the tender document. The adjudicating process also allocates points on working conditions.

Mr Greenland said the GWU recently signed a collective agreement with the three companies which employ the wardens. It ensures that they will work a 40-hour, five-day week and will be entitled to overtime pay.

There are also new provisions on health and safety such as having the wardens working in pairs, especially in the evenings and i certain areas which were being identified, such as village squares.

The wardens will also be paid for working on Sunday and will be given sun block for working in the sun. They will enjoy a ‘substantial’ improvement in their salaries which the tender documents established at between a minimum of €10,000 to a maximum of €15,000 annually.

Furthermore, wardens would not need to pay for licence renewal and a refresher course every year, but they would undergo 50 hours of training every year.

Mr Greenland said the security sector was in a ‘disastrous state’ because employers were not interested in working conditions.

“We cannot be cheap and economise on working conditions,” Mr Greenland said, and certain employment conditions therefore also needed to ne enclosed when the government issued tenders for private security services.

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