Unite The Union Public Sector Branch's New Year Message
Below follows Unite the Union Public Sector Branch's New Year Message:
Unite the Union Public Sector Branch would like to wish Gibraltar a Happy New Year, whilst hoping that 2022 brings about positive advancements in Brexit, COVID-19 and our economy.
Brexit, COVID-19 and our inability to weather the storm financially has led to economic hardships for Gibraltar and our community.
To weather such storm it is important that HMGOG engages in meaningful and transparent collective bargaining with the Unions as opposed to taking unilateral decisions and expecting conformity. HMGOG current position has already led to a collective fastening of seatbelts for the public sector, which has already endured a pay freeze over the last couple of years whilst witnessing financially conflictive decisions being made without any consultation contrary to HMGOG’s phrase ‘adopt a united front’.
Unite’s Public Sector Branch totally agrees with adopting a United Front, however, Unite’s Public Sector Branch cannot agree to a one sided decision making machinery disguised as a united front which has to date meant; a pay freeze, a 4.3% IRP increase, a growth in Privatisation within Government departments, the erosion of worker’s standards of living and the depletion of a public sector.
It is distressing to witness the deterioration of the Public Sector Compliment levels as individual employees are being redeployed, seconded and directly appointed to roles without prior consultation. This leads to manning level shortfalls within Public Sector Departments paving the way for Automation of Services (E-Gov) and loss of posts.
Unite’s Public Sector Branch believes that E-Gov objective must not be to cut on people related cost and instead to help the current Public Sector compliment level to produce a more effective service to the public. The following should be observed;
- To safeguard workers' rights and interests as our economy, based on paid labour force, is being driven to an economy based on automated production.
- To stop any privatisation of Public Service works carried out by our Public Service Sector membership.
- To ensure the social rights of all Gibraltar citizens impacted by these changes are taken into consideration.
- How to stop the jobless economy we could be facing in years to come by the replacement of human labour over Technology and making obsolete many Public Sector posts.
- To mitigate the consequences this will have on Gibraltar’s labour market, as automation transcends from the Public Sector to the Private Sector.
Finally, Unite’s Public Sector Branch calls for HMGOG to engage with the Trade Unions in a National Joint Trade Union for Government Services forum in order to initiate a process of negotiations in respect to pay within the Public Service prior to the end of this financial year.
