An industrial dispute in the public service : the promotion to the grade of Senior Principal

Abstract

This study explores the circumstances leading to the anomalous industrial action' by senior members of the civil service concerning the implementation of one aspect of the public service perform process, initiated in the Malta civil service in 1989. The issue concerns the basis for the promotion to the grade of Senior principal and the contestation of this basis which followed between the different parties to the dispute - including government, trade unions and the aggrieved civil servants. This has been collected cuttings documenting the by perusing the relevant newspaper evolution of the dispute, official publications and carrying out semi-structured interviews with officials of those organisations directly concerned. This study sheds some light on the dynamics of dispute resolution the Malta civil service as well as on the difficulty of implementing top-down reform strategies.