[WATCH] Union claims there’s no money for nurses as industrial action continues

Jilted nurses say there’s no money for them as Steward fiasco looms large on collective agreement talks failure with government

Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday
Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday

Nurses have been told there is no money for them in the aftermath of the Steward hospitals concession fiasco, their union claimed on Monday.

Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses President Paul Pace said nurses and patients were the victims of the situation.

Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday
Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday

The union is proposing several measures to improve work conditions for its members, including higher pensions and a reduced tax rate on overtime. The measures are expected to cost millions in taxpayer funds and have been rejected by the government.

He said the package proposed by the union would cost around €75 million and not the €120 million government has intimated.

More than 4,000 nurses are on strike across all hospitals.

Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday
Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday

Speaking on the steps of Castille, Pace accused the health authorities of intimidating nurses obeying industrial action.

He said government had asked the union what would nurses give back to taxpayers in return, calling this an insult.

“They did not ask Steward what it would give back to taxpayers. The Prime Minister defends the pigs at the trough and objects to spending money on nurses,” Pace said.

He added nurses were working in dismal conditions with patients being treated in corridors, the employee canteen and other areas.

He accused government of wanting to humiliate nurses.

Pace said it was shameful that Steward was paid millions to perform run of the mill works while government was being stingy with nurses.

“Government takes us to court and not Steward. They play the bully with us and not with Steward,” Pace said.

He said the millions given to Steward meant that over the past eight years government made no new investments in Mater Dei and Mount Carmel.

“The victim in all this is not the government, Robert Abela and Joseph Muscat but the patients who are being treated in an undignified environment, and nurses are expected to work in these hellholes,” Pace said.

Pace urged people to show solidarity with nurses and midwives in there struggle for better pay and work conditions.

He said the sectoral agreement proposals made by MUMN were intended to make the profession attractive to young people and to keep foreign health workers in Malta.

“I am sorry we had to arrive at this stage and resort to industrial action that hurts but we had no other choice,” Pace said.

Pace added that industrial action ordered so far has exempted key areas such as the cancer hospital, children’s wards and emergency.

However, he did not exclude an escalation of measures if government remained intransigent.

“We have not embarked on strike action like happened in the UK but if government does not come back with meaningful counter-proposals we will be left with no choice but to escalate industrial action,” Pace warned.