New improved pay and conditions agreement for DOI workers

While visiting the Department of Information in Valletta on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the same Department, Prime Minister Robert Abela together with Principal Permanent Secretary Tony Sultana presided over the sectoral agreement signed between the Public Service and the General Workers' Union. Thanks to this agreement, around 30 DOI workers will benefit and it will significantly improve the salaries and working conditions of these workers in the DOI including photographers and information officers. Prime Minister Robert Abela noted that this agreement is part of a series of other agreements through which the Government has continued to strengthen the conditions and wages of workers in the Public Service. He said that as a result of a strong economy, the Government is in a position to continue to invest strongly in its workers, apart from introducing one measure after another to reduce tax payments for workers and families. Thanks to this agreement, employees will benefit from improved pay scales, allowances that are directly related to their work and allowances that are given according to the employee's performance. The agreement is recognising the valuable work done by employees who provide the public with updated, comprehensive and useful information on Government policies, services and activities as well as on matters of public interest. Meanwhile, during the visit, Prime Minister Robert Abela saw the work carried out by the Department of Information, which falls under the aegis of the Office of the Prime Minister. The Department has archives of approximately 2.2 million photographs that are in the process of being digitized. The DOI archives also contain around 2,000 videos from the 1960s to the 1980s that are being digitized. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary, the Department took care of the production of a book with seventy photographs by DOI photographers and a copy of this publication was presented to Prime Minister Robert Abela. The sectoral agreement was signed by the Head of the Industrial Relations Unit within the Office of the Permanent Secretary (People & Standards) Thomas Woods, by the Director of the Department of Information Roderick Caruana and by the Secretary of the GWU Government and Public Entities Unit Kendrick Bondin. Also present was the General Secretary of the GWU Josef Bugeja.