Unite welcomes Treaty text publication but says detail must be examined

Unite the Union Gibraltar, has welcomed the publication of the Treaty text on Thursday and congratulated all those involved in bringing the process to this stage, more than five years after the in-principle agreement reached on New Year’s Eve 2020.

A statement from the union said that the importance of a Treaty for the future and economic prosperity of Gibraltar is clear, and that the Treaty also achieves a key policy position of Unite in terms of maintain fluidity at the frontier for goods, services and people.

It acknowledged that the prospect of a Hard Brexit for Gibraltar was potentially ruinous; however there is a massive amount of detail within the Treaty text which will need to be analysed as to impact on workers, Unite members and their families however the union fully supports the position of maintaining jurisdiction, sovereignty and control post Treaty.

It noted that there are already obvious, immediate areas that need to be addressed to deal with the concerns of members and Unite will be engaging with HMGOG to address these areas.

Unite Gibraltar’s representative on the Cross Frontier Group, Christian Duo, said: “Unite welcomes the publication of the Treaty text and the union recognises the significant amount of work that many representatives of HMGOG have contributed to reach this position.”

“The sheer amount of detail in the Treaty text means that the union remains cautious as to how the implementation of Treaty will interact with workers across both the private and public sectors, what changes those living and working in Gibraltar will see and it will be important that a full analysis of the Treaty impacts is undertaken.”

“The Treaty is vital for the future economic and societal prosperity of Gibraltar and a Hard Brexit was difficult to contemplate; however the union is conscious that there will be some uncertainty amongst members, with questions and concerns around their job roles.”

“Unite will be engaging with those members and HMGOG to address any issues that arise from this process, but today is an important day for Gibraltar”.