[WATCH] MUMN opposes government move to recognise rival union

Nurses union goes to court over recognition

Trade union MUMN has filed a judicial protest against the government this morning, arguing that moves to give sole recognition to a rival trade union breached its members' rights.

In the protest addressed to the Prime Minister, the principal permanent secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister, the Director of Industrial and Employment relations and the Attorney General, the union said it had been given sole recognition of physiotherapists that work with the Health Department, a group of professionals classified as Allied Health Professionals, in September 2016.

But more recently, it said, it had been told by OPM officials that the Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) had been given sole recognition of Allied Health Professionals.

MUMN said it objected strongly to any attempt at undermining its sole recognition of the physiotherapists by stealth.

UHM would only have the right to represent physiotherapists if it had majority representation, said the union, claiming to know “for certain” that the “absolute majority” of physiotherapists are MUMN members and not UHM members. It argued that this meant that it should continue to enjoy sole recognition out of respect to the fundamental right of freedom of association.

It was not acceptable to deprive them of this right, simply because the Allied Health Practitioners who were not physiotherapists had chosen to form part of a different union, the protest reads.

Lawyer Chris Cilia signed the judicial protest, which was filed in the First Hall of the Civil Court.