HM Government of Gibraltar and Unite the Union have continued to meet and maintain dialogue following the ballot of Unite members and the calling of strike action from 11th September 2025, with a view to finding a resolution to the dispute. A further series of meetings took place on Wednesday 3rd September, focused on dispute resolution.

Government has maintained that there remains no scope to improve the public sector pay proposal announced at Budget 2025. Unite, for their part, have continued to raise that the central tenet of their public sector pay claim 2025/26 was around the recovery of the real terms losses in pay across this and successive pay rounds, as well as raising structural issues around the minimum entry salary.

The parties agree that the process of negotiation around Pay 2025/26 was not, for constitutional issues related to the treaty, where either Government or the union would have wanted it structurally, in detail and in frequency, which needed addressing for future pay rounds. The parties also recognise that the purchasing power of public sector wages has been significantly eroded by external factors. As such, it is agreed that the parties would have wanted to see the public sector pay proposal for 2025/26 go further had it not been for financial constraints.

Following previous and the most recent dialogue, the following has been agreed between HM Government of Gibraltar and Unite the Union to resolve the dispute, subject to a ballot of members to accept the terms of the dispute resolution:

• The parties commit to a clear timeline of monthly negotiation meetings, commencing September 2025, with a shared commitment to focus on negotiations to recover the real terms losses in pay since August 2019 in full.

• That shared commitment will require detailed negotiations to ensure the process of recovery is managed sustainably across a binding, multi-year agreement, commencing at Pay 2026/27.

• As part of the timeline, a roadmap of meetings and milestones will be agreed.

• The minimum entry salary in the public sector will be increased in line with UK parity principles, currently £24,413.00. Anyone earning below this figure will see pay increased to that level, backdated to 1st April 2025.

• The negotiation framework will commence with an agreement on Terms of Reference, covering public sector pay, a review of pay differentials through the grades, and the future application of the UK minimum entry salary, including annual backdating to 1st April.

• Further joint work will address other elements of the Unite pay claim raised at Budget 2025, including the Living Wage Commission, the use of Zero Hours Contracts in both public and private sectors, and the minimum wage.

• The parties also agreed to address the broader industrial relationship between HM Government of Gibraltar and Unite the Union, with a view to improving this to the benefit of Gibraltar’s workforce and union members.

Unite the Union has agreed to postpone all strike action to allow for a further ballot of union members.