A year after Government promised to implement the European Directive on equal pay for work of equal value, workers have been left empty-handed, the Nationalist Party said Tuesday.
Thousands of workers employed through employment agencies contracted by government have been left in limbo, still waiting for the pay adjustments and arrears owed to them by the same Government.
This Directive, which Malta was legally obliged to transpose into its national legislation, ensures that all workers performing the same duties, including those employed through agencies under Government contracts, are paid equally to their counterparts directly employed with Government. Ironically, the Prime Minister himself praised this initiative in June 2024, yet it has still not been implemented, the PN said.
Government had pledged to address this pay discrimination in January 2025. Agencies, unions and workers were assured by the People and Standards Office within the Office of the Prime Minister that arrears and updated contracts would be finalised by June 2025.
When Government once again failed to meet this deadline, industrial disputes were declared. After another commitment that payments would be settled by September 2025, unions suspended their industrial action in good faith. Yet despite these assurances, an inconsistent and incompetent Government once again failed to meet the September deadline, and to this day the situation remains unchanged.
This means that despite all the rhetoric, up to now no arrears have been paid, no contracts have been updated and around 15,000 workers continue to be underpaid and remain uncertain as to when their rights will be respected.
This represents a systemic failure of leadership and governance. Government has failed to honour its legal obligations under the same EU Directive it had itself transposed. Despite claiming to be a "social government," in practice it continues to deny fair and equal treatment to thousands of men and women who perform essential public services.
The PN stressed that this failure lies entirely with Government, which continues to set arbitrary deadlines and make empty promises, leaving workers and agencies in administrative limbo.
It expressed its full solidarity with workers and pledges its full support to ensure that they are given what is rightfully theirs.
The Equal Pay for Equal Work Directive enacted by Government remains a law on paper only. By not implementing it, Government is breaching EU directives, Maltese law, and the trust of contracted workers.
The PN reiterated that the government must immediately implement the equal pay adjustments; all arrears must be paid retroactively and without delay, and employment contracts must be updated immediately to reflect the new pay scales.
A government that truly believes in social justice must deliver fairness through action, not through empty words and press conferences.
This government has lost all credibility and has shown that it is incapable of performing even the simplest of tasks such as calculating what is owed to these workers. Every time it is called upon to turn words into action, this Government fails, the PN said.
They can preach as much as they like about being a "Government for workers." The reality is that this is a Government that denies workers both their money and their rights.