Improved salaries and benefits for Malta Public Transport employees will cost the bus operator about €2 million this year, in line with a new collective agreement.

The agreement, signed yesterday by the company and the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin, will see immediate salary increases across the board, although the press was not informed by how much.

MPT general manager Konrad Pulè told the Times of Malta the agreement would improve employees’ conditions and ultimately make for a better service.

“We employ about 1,300 people and had to work hard to strike a better work-life balance for our employees. In the end, a happier workforce translates into a better service for our users,” he said.

One of the major changes will affect the contentious split shifts, which were the subject of repeated industrial disputes last year.

Drivers resorted to industrial action after having repeatedly complained of excessively long working days due to lengthy breaks between shifts.

In the end, a happier workforce translates into a better service for our users

Mr Pulè said these breaks had been done away with, so workers would still get paid the same amounts but had more time to spend with their families.

Shifts were now shorter, though the extent of the changes varied.

Other initiatives include new performance bonuses, increased night allowances and a new late duty grant. Private health insurance has also been agreed upon.

UĦM president Josef Vella said the agreement had been reached in just three months, a short period considering the voluminous document.

There had been tough negotiations, but at no point had any industrial action been threatened. This was remarkable, he said, as it was the first collective agreement covering all the staff of MPT, which started operations three years ago.

“Today’s signing sends a message to other industries that what we have achieved here can be replicated elsewhere,” he said.