Employees of the Housing Authority will receive a pay increase despite the projected doubling of the Authority's deficit to between €4 million and €5 million.

The pay rises, ranging between €600 and €1,000 per year (including cost of living increases), were set in a collective agreement signed between the authority and the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin earlier today.

The agreement was meant to be signed back in 2010, however, a series of disputes over working conditions and financial packages caused a number of extensions in the drafting process.

Social Solidarity Minister Marie Louise Coleiro Preca described the wage increase as a symbolic but important one.

“We would have liked to give the employees the wage increase they wanted but the financial situation is what it is,” she said.

Last June the authority’s financial deficit was pegged at €2 million, however, Ms Coleiro Preca said the poor management of several of the authority’s housing projects had contributed to its dire financial situation.

UĦM president Jesmond Bonello said the collective agreement had been finalised since January 2011 but talks over the revision of the financial packages had stalled its implementation.

“At the end I think we’ve reached a win-win situation,” he said.