The civil service collective agreement expired 16 months ago, and here we are still talking about its renewal.

The interested parties – the government on one side and seven unions on the other – have been holding negotiations before the 31 December 2010 expiration date, but so far have failed to come to a conclusion.

The Malta Independent on Sunday yesterday reported that the administration has every interest in seeing that the agreement is reached as soon as possible, as this would be a boost for the government. Sources said that it could be a matter of weeks, not months, for the deal to be reached.

But they also indicated that it is not only up to the government. It takes two to tango, and in this respect the unions must also play their part. That some of them have been putting spokes in the wheels to procrastinate matters is not a surprise.

One understands that this is an intricate issue. It involves thousands of workers who fall within a set of parameters that need to be kept, and all their needs and interests have to be safeguarded. That workers whose job is completely different from one another are grouped within the same scale is not helpful. That 60 different agreements need to be signed is a delicate issue as well.

One also understands that the last two years have been difficult, and that when negotiations started the economic outlook was different from what we have today. This meant that the goal-posts had to be shifted during the course of the negotiations, and that demands had to be changed.

Still, it is to be expected that such negotiations should not take so long. It is a pity that some unions fail to see the overall picture, and tend to defend their own turf without realising the harm they are causing. Union should be more responsible in this respect.

The government has every interest to see that an agreement is concluded in the short term, considering that the election will take place within a year (probably earlier). But even unions should have this in mind too, as a (possible) change in administration would mean that negotiations would have to start all over again.