Carlo Gavazzi Workers Celebrate as UHM Seals Malta Jobs Rescue Deal

**Carlo Gavazzi Workers Secure Future as UHM Clinches Landmark Deal**

In a decisive turn of events that has rippled across Malta’s tight-knit manufacturing community, employees at Carlo Gavazzi’s local operations have breathed a collective sigh of relief after the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin (UHM) sealed a financial agreement that safeguards jobs, wages, and long-standing benefits. The deal, hammered out in marathon negotiations that stretched into the early hours at the Ħamrun headquarters, ends months of uncertainty that had loomed over the Santa Venera plant since rumours of restructuring first surfaced in January.

For the 140 workers who report daily to the low-rise factory tucked behind the old railway embankment, the agreement is more than a line item on a balance sheet—it is a reaffirmation of Malta’s social contract in an era when global supply-chain shocks have put even the steadiest of paychecks in jeopardy. “We weren’t just fighting for numbers on a spreadsheet,” UHM deputy secretary-general Josephine Xerri told Hot Malta, voice still hoarse from last night’s celebratory toast. “We were fighting for families who have sent three generations through Carlo Gavazzi’s doors, for the village festa donations that come out of these wages, for the ħobż biż-żejt bought at the corner kiosk every lunch-break.”

Carlo Gavazzi, the Swiss-Italian electronics group that opened its Maltese branch in 1983, manufactures sensors and monitoring relays used from Shenzhen subway lines to Nordic wind farms. While the company’s global footprint spans 22 countries, the Santa Venera plant has become a microcosm of Maltese industriousness: workers start the day with a quick espresso at the canteen’s stainless-steel counter, swap gossip in Maltese and English, and clock off in time for evening band marches during village festa season. That cultural fabric looked frayed when management warned in February that rising component costs and energy tariffs could force “structural recalibration,” a euphemism that sent whispers of redundancies through the adjoining Ħamrun and Msida parishes.

Enter the UHM, Malta’s largest independent union, whose negotiators leveraged both data and sentiment. They arrived at the table armed with a petition signed by 92 % of the workforce and a meticulous audit showing that Maltese operations remained 18 % more cost-effective than the company’s Philippine facility when logistics and EU quality-control expenses were factored in. After three weeks of shuttle diplomacy that included an emergency Zoom call with board members in Lugano, the two sides initialled a three-year pact that guarantees:

– A 3.2 % wage increase retroactive to 1 January 2024, followed by COLA-adjusted raises in 2025 and 2026
– A moratorium on forced redundancies, with any future staff reductions to be met through voluntary early-retirement packages negotiated individually with the union
– Reinstatement of the annual productivity bonus—suspended during the pandemic—now pegged to energy-efficiency targets rather than raw output, aligning Malta’s plant with the EU’s Green Deal metrics
– A €450,000 investment over 24 months to upgrade ageing PCB testing equipment, ensuring the Maltese facility remains the group’s “centre of excellence” for industrial automation sensors

Reaction on the ground was swift. By mid-morning, bunting in the colours of the UHM—yellow and blue—had been draped across the factory gates, echoing the spontaneous street celebrations that erupted in 2021 when Malta’s healthcare workers secured hazard-pay bonuses. “My son’s starting MCAST in September,” said Etienne Zahra, a 44-year-old father of two who has spent 19 years calibrating sensors. “This deal means I can still help with his tuition without taking a second job driving Bolt at night.”

Economists see wider reverberations. “Manufacturing accounts for 10 % of Malta’s GDP, but its psychological weight is far larger,” noted Dr. Stephanie Caruana, senior lecturer at the University of Malta. “Every time a plant stays open, it signals to foreign investors that Malta’s industrial relations climate is stable and mature.” That perception is critical as the island competes with cheaper jurisdictions in North Africa and Eastern Europe for high-value assembly work.

Local businesses feel the ripple too. The Ħamrun confectionery that supplies the factory’s vending machines estimates it stands to lose €8,000 a year if 40 workers are axed. “It’s not just pastizzi,” owner Raymond Pace said, sliding a tray of ricotta-filled pastries into the oven. “It’s the Christmas hampers, the qagħaq tal-għasel during Lent. When factories cough, village shops catch pneumonia.”

Politicians were quick to claim credit, yet mindful of the delicate balance. Parliamentary Secretary for Labour, Andy Ellul, hailed the agreement as “a testament to Malta’s social partnership model,” while Opposition spokesperson Ivan Castillo warned that “without constant innovation, today’s victory could be tomorrow’s Pyrrhic success.” Both statements, issued within minutes of each other, underscore how industrial policy remains a electoral battleground on an island where everybody knows somebody who works “fil-fabbrika.”

For now, however, the mood is unapologetically festive. Plans are already afoot for a post-negotiation barbecue in the plant courtyard, where Maltese sausages will sizzle next to Italian luganega—an edible metaphor for a deal that blends local grit with continental pragmatism. As the 4:30 pm whistle blew yesterday, workers streamed out past the shrine of St. Cajetan, patron saint of job seekers, pausing to touch the marble plaque for luck. They leave not just with signed papers in their folders, but with the reassurance that Malta’s industrial heartbeat still echoes loud and clear beneath the summer sun.