UHM accuses ministry of not honouring Steward agreement on health professionals

UHM - Voice of the Workers has filed a judicial protest over a failed agreement that would have seen former Steward Healthcare professionals absorbed into the Foundation for Medical Services, a State entity.

The protest was filed before the first Hall of the Civil Court against Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and the Chief Executive of the FMS. UHM said an agreement reached on 18 November 2020 between the Health Ministry and the union dictated that professionals working with Steward Healthcare were to be absorbed into the FMS.

“Moreover, it had been agreed that the years of service spent with Steward Healthcare and Vitals Global Healthcare would be carried over, as if they had been employed with FMS from the very beginning. Furthermore, it was agreed that these employees would be given arrears as from 1 January 2019.”

UHM said that a copy of the agreement was sent to Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, Clyde Caruana who at the time was the Head of the Secretariat of the Prime Minister, and Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar.

It accused the Health Ministry of not keeping its word, when employees were absorbed into the FMS without adding up the years of service and with no arrears.

“What sense does it make that professionals who worked side by side with other professionals, treating the same patients in the same wards, have been deprived of the principle of equal pay for equal work?”

It argued that the ministry’s decision means that these employees will suffer financial losses and other benefits during their career.