That Alex Borg does not understand how the Public Service and the Administration function has already become amply evident. And today corridors of Government entities and departments were filled with murmuring about how the system could be destabilised by claims such as the latest one made by Alex Borg. In his ‘eventual’ first 100 days in office, he promised to give a fresh pay package to healthcare workers.

An uneducated promise, that few took seriously, and led even more public officials to ask why Borg is discarding a very successful model, and why he wants to open the door to a chaotic and unsustainable process.

Is this what Alex Borg wishes for the Public Service. Is Borg advocating a drive towards maladministration, against the harmonised approach adopted in recent years that is specifically intended to safeguard workers wellbeing and their  jobs? Such claims give rise to disruptive practices and changing the processes that are used for collective and sectoral agreements renewal, especially when such changes are proposed by short-sighted politicians inexperienced in industrial relations, could cause severe disruptions to the security that workers have been accustomed to.

To start with, all sectoral agreements have an expiry date. Since many sectoral and collective agreements across the Public Service and the wider public sector were signed from 2022 onwards, most now have expiry dates that fall in 2027, 2028, and 2029.  Any attempt to bring forward the due dates for agreements, such as is being proposed for healthcare carers’ agreements signed by both the GWU and UĦM in 2024, and expire in 2028, would mean that agreements that are due to expire in 2027, 2028, and 2029 would also need to be renegotiated. And then, why stop there? The main Public Service Agreement ends in 2030, and others signed this year are due to expire in 2031.

Certainly, Alex Borg and the PN’s new candidates do not appear to be aware of the cumulative cost of agreements covering healthcare workers and the hundreds of other categories included under the various agreements funded from Government coffers. We are not speaking of millions at this point, but of a phenomenal cumulative amount, reaching 2 BILLION Euro. This is the scale of the resource that the Labour Government is already dedicating to reward the hard work of the Public Administration’s officers and employees.

And this does not stop there. Let us also remind Alex Borg (in case he missed it) that, with the implementation of LN 128/24 in 2025, Government aligned thousands of outsourced contractor workers with their public officer/employee counterparts, meaning that several other millions have been awarded to Maltese and Gozitan workers in these categories.

The PN is not gaining any points with these empty promises. Public service employees and officials  are very well aware of who has just given them fresh salary packages and improved conditions. In any case, industrial relations do not move according to the “first 100 days” of an Alex Borg eventual administration; otherwise, public employees and officials would have to wait for many years to see any changes to their benefits.

And God Forbid the renewal of collective agreements would depend on the whims of such an unpredictable leader.

By contrast, the Government led by Robert Abela, who understands trade unionism and industrial relations as a respected discipline, empowered the administration to work towards ensuring fair and rewarding packages and conditions, whilst making sure that these remain sustainable.

And the aim behind this is rather simple, giving workers the dignity and motivation they deserve, so that the Public Administration can retain important talent and resources rather than losing valuable knowledge, expertise, and experience, something which had characterised the last years of the PN’s Government.

The Labour Government already revamped numerous agreements left untouched by past PN governments since the 90’s. Too late, Alex, what needed to be done is already being actively handled. There is no need for your “first 100 days”.  By now you should have already figured that the general election is very different from the PN leadership one. It doesn’t seem that many would look forward to your first 100, as what you’re promising so far, has either already been done, or is ill-researched. In any case your motto seems to be as you so eloquently said – bil kliem mhux bil fatti (The PN is ‘words and no facts’).