Nurses’ union planning industrial action over 'humiliating' sectorial agreement negotiations

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses is planning to launch an industrial action next week after its negotiations with the government over the sectorial agreement hit a brick wall.

On Friday, MUMN informed its members that it had no other option but to declare an industrial dispute and issue directives across the whole health and elderly sectors next week.

The union will be summoning and urgent MUMN Council meeting to discuss the directives to be issued next week.

The union said it was in “complete shock” when the 37-page document, with its proposals for the nurses and midwives’ sectorial agreement, was reduced to two pages.

It said that for the last three months, it had explained in great detail its proposals, which included not just nurses and midwives in all grades but also student nurses/midwives.

“As MUMN, we were sincerely hoping that the Government would be on board and understand the duress the nurses and midwives are facing on a daily basis. Nurses and midwives who attend to their patients and at the same time are also responsible for the running of their wards, of their departments and of their hospital, depending on their grade,” MUMN said.

It said that it hoped the government would appreciate the “sterling” work being done by them and acknowledge the “huge” shortage of personnel in those professions in Malta.

“This two-page document must have broken every world record for the shortest, insignificant document to the nursing and midwifery profession worldwide,” MUMN said.

It added that all its proposals to attract young people and retain the existing workforce were “thrown out of the window”.

“After the nurses and midwives risked their lives during the pandemic, they were humiliated by such an approach, and shows clearly that the road ahead to obtain a decent sectorial agreement is going to be a long road,” MUMN said.

The union said it was told the nurses and midwives should consider themselves “lucky enough” to have a sectorial agreement and that the central government had no extra financial resources for them.

The directives will apply to all nurses and midwives, including top-ranking ones, with the MUMN warning its members that any grade which acts as a strikebreaker will be left out of the sectoral agreement being negotiated.

“MUMN will be keeping a vigilant eye since any grade who will be acting as a strike breaker or remaining selfishly impassive gives a clear signal that there is no interest in the Sectorial Agreements and would therefore be excluded from the Sectorial Agreement,” MUMN said.

The union encouraged its members to report any intimidation or strikebreakers and promised strict confidentiality.

“It’s time to stand up and be counted. They are taking us too much for granted,” MUMN President Paul Pace said.