Negotiations over expired collective agreement for public service legal professionals drag on for tenth year

A collective agreement which is meant to regulate the working conditions of legal professionals working in public service expired ten years ago and remains the subject of stalled negotiations between the government and Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin (UĦM), The Shift has learned.

While the government has approved collective agreements for lawyers working within the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the State Advocate, it has so far shown little inclination towards extending the same kind of agreement to lawyers working full-time within the public service.

Sources familiar with the situation told The Shift that the last collective agreement regulating public service legal professionals expired in 2016, and has not been renewed or updated since.

The latest round of ongoing negotiations between the government and the UĦM, which in this case is representing dozens of legal professionals, has been moving at a snail’s pace for around a year.

Legal professionals employed with the public service include those working for ministries and departments under the banner of the Public Service Commission.

Legal professionals working for the public sector, on the other hand, are employed directly by authorities and agencies with their own, distinctive legal identity, meaning they would be regulated by a specific collective agreement that is relevant to the authority or agency employing them.

In total, the UĦM is currently representing around 70 legal professionals who work with the public service in various capacities.

The last collective agreement for these legal professionals was signed in 2011, meaning that working conditions for these professionals have effectively remained the same as they were 15 years ago.

“We are not asking for much here – all we’re asking for in this context is to be paid as much as other legal professionals doing the same kind of work within the government,” one source said.

“It’s been difficult for us to effectively engage in collective bargaining because we’re all over the place, so it’s not like we can walk out on a strike and paralyse a whole department,” the source added.

Granted anonymity to speak freely without facing retaliation for speaking up, The Shift’s sources also pointed out that their working conditions contrast greatly with those afforded to lawyers who have contacts within government.

One glaring example is disgraced former Education Minister Justyne Caruana, who is currently raking in over €15,000 a month from six simultaneous consultancy arrangements with different government entities.

Caruana is not the only lawyer benefiting from such arrangements, with direct orders often being used to circumvent standard public procurement processes to award lucrative retainers for legal services without triggering open competition on the market.