The Malta Statistics Authority (MSA) and the Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) have signed a new six-year term collective agreement on behalf of all National Statistics Office (NSO) employees.

The MSA said the signing followed a brief but intensive negotiating process.

The signatories to the agreement were Dr Carl Camilleri as Chairman of the MSA, Mr Etienne Caruana Director General NSO on behalf of management, Union representatives Ms Antoinette Aquilina and Mr Mario Sacco, and Mr Andre Caruana on behalf of NSO employees.

The signing of the agreement was witnessed by Mr Paul Zahra, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry for Finance.

It was explained that the collective agreement builds on past achievements, but it also enables the organisation to meet the ever-growing statistical demands required on a local and international level.

NSO employees will benefit from an improved remuneration package and enhanced training possibilities, while operating in a healthy working atmosphere. “Over the past years, significant effort has been dedicated to enhancing employee welfare, and the organisation will continue striving to improve standards,” it said.

The NSO stated that its “most important resource is its workforce. This collective agreement dovetails with NSO’s modernisation strategy. The Office is investing in cutting-edge technology to enhance efficiency in statistical production, creating both employment and training opportunities in the process. Hopefully, a key outcome of the collective agreement will be a larger pool of adolescents pursuing education in data-driven science fields, such as statistics, economics, and data science.”

The MSA said that the signing of this collective agreement would not have been possible without the professionalism and cooperation demonstrated by the Industrial Relations Unit (IRU) within the Office of the Prime Minister, and the UHM – Voice of the Workers during the negotiations. “Special thanks also go to the Ministry for Finance, for its continuous support to different initiatives that the NSO and MSA take.”

The MSA also expressed thanks to the staff representatives who worked hard to see this agreement come to fruition.

Photo: MSA

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