Malta Urges Conciliation Process With Striking Nurses To Protect Desperate Patients
Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne and the Ministry for Health have urgently requested the opening of a conciliatory process with the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses – claiming this to be pressing in order to protect those patients left in limbo whilst awaiting important medical procedures.
Late last month, the MUMN issued directives to over 4,000 nurses and midwives across Malta and Gozo – initiating strike action intended to ensure that midwives and nurses receive long-overdue salary restructuring, along with tax credits on overtime and pension schemes, and other important considerations such as preventing the introduction of EVS technology.
This call for conciliation comes after MUMN claimed that ten days into the strike, “the Ministry for Health still made no effort to present a sectorial agreement and persisted with the notion that the government doesn’t have enough money for nurses and midwives”.
The MFH said that their request for a conciliation meeting with the union is an, “essential action to ensure that even in a moment where talks are ongoing about a collective agreement, vulnerable patients receive necessary care”.
During this conciliation process, MUMN will be expected to suspend directives so that all patients can receive the best possible care.
Fearne claimed that “the government has consistently had the aim of strengthening conditions of work and income for nurses, with various collective agreements in the sector having been agreed and signed over recent years”.
Although MUMN does not issue strike action directives lightly, union representatives feel they have been pushed to take severe action because “health is not a priority to the government”.
They have repeatedly invited the Health Ministry to send counter proposals on all the union’s incentives, because they believe it is wrong that nurses and midwives are the least-paid professionals all healthcare professionals in the health sector.
The MFH concluded that their call for this process takes into account their “responsibility towards the workers who want to improve their conditions – and their patients – as we must ensure that they are always given all the necessary care”.
Do you think the MUMN should accept the terms of this conciliatory process?
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