The agreement reached by UĦM Voice of the Workers for Steward Health Care employees will increase the union’s resolve in the fighting against workplace discrimination in line with the principle of equal pay for equal work.

UĦM CEO Josef Vella made this pledge in the first reaction to the agreement under which employees of this company running three State hospitals will enjoy the same working conditions of Health Ministry workers with whom they shares the same duties, wards and patients.

“UĦM will continue addressing this issue on various fronts – through legal action in Court such as the Gozo Channel case, industrial action, by bringing cases before the Director of Employment and in important fora such as the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development as well as the Employment Relations Board. At political level, we are making our submissions on this issue as part of the consultations on the electoral manifestos of the political parties contesting the next general election,” Vella said.

In the case of Steward case, the union had expressed reservations from the very beginning in 2016, when the 30-year concession to run the Gozo General Hospital, St. Luke’s and Karin Grech was granted to Vitals Global Healthcare. It was at the end of 2017 that the concession was transferred to American company Steward.

Though Steward was branded by the Government as “the real deal” this did not mean “a good deal” for workers who ended up doing the same job as Government employees albeit with lower wages and inferior conditions, the CEO remarked.

He added that the UĦM was the only union refusing to sign an agreement with Steward on the grounds that it could neither commit itself nor its members to something to which it is still not privy. Such stance stems from the fact that the entire agreement between the Government and Steward was never published.

Finally, government finally understood the solution proposed by the union and agreed in principle to bring Steward’s workers at the same level as other professionals in the public service.

“The next step is for the negotiations to go into the details of how each worker will be assimilated, in a process that must be completed by 31 December of this year. The second step would be for Steward’s workers to start benefiting from this agreement from next year. The case will only be closed when the workers receive their payslips containing the same conditions as their colleagues on Government books,” Vella said.

‘The told us such agreement was impossible’

Gian Paul Gauci, assistant director at UĦM Voice of the Workers who was actively involved in the negotiations, expressed satisfaction that this agreement was made despite scepticism from certain quarters.

“There were other unions who had warned that the kind of deal the UĦM was asking for was impossible to get. However, time has proved us right because our resolve meant that we secured this ‘impossible deal’ despite the difficulties we faced,” he said.

The breakthrough was also difficult because Government did not immediately understand that there was discrimination going on.