Updated | Health Ministry wants nurses’ industrial action suspended as it seeks mediation

Updated at 3:45pm with MUMN reaction

Government is calling for a conciliatory meeting with the nurses’ union on Wednesday and asking that industrial action be suspended pending mediation, the Health Ministry said.

The ministry said patients were suffering as a result of the industrial action ordered by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses across State hospitals and clinics.

“After months of negotiations on a new sectoral agreement for midwives and nurses during which 13 meetings were held, the government has asked for a conciliation process to kick off in terms of the civil service collective agreement,” the ministry said on Tuesday.

It added that the government has improved its pay proposals, offering “significant increases” to nurses and midwives.

However, MUMN President Paul Pace rejected the government's offer for mediation, saying it is an attempt to stop industrial action without coming back with meaningful counterproposals.

"The proposal for mediation does not make sense because the union has never closed the door to negotiations and government, so far, has not told us that what it offered during the last meeting held last week is its final offer," Pace told MaltaToday.

He insisted the union will not shy away from further talks but insisted government has to come back with improved counterproposals. "You attend a reconciliation meeting when either of the parties shut the door to talks and this has not happened. If the ministry asks us to meet we will willingly attend but we expect it to come to us with proposals that meet our demands."

The MUMN ordered widespread industrial action in March, claiming there was no money for nurses as talks on a new collective agreement stalled.

The action has resulted in a number of medical appointments and surgical interventions being postponed, while hospitals patients are not being cared for as expected.

Sources close to government told MaltaToday that the latest proposals put forward by the ministry equated to a pay packet increase that was more than double the increase nurses got five years ago when the last sectoral agreement was reached.

The latest government proposals were put forward during a meeting held with the MUMN last week but the sources said the union has rejected the offer.

“The conciliatory meeting is a last-ditch attempt to salvage the talks before government contemplates any court action to safeguard patients’ wellbeing,” the sources said.

But Pace has insisted that government's latest proposal still leaves nurses as "the least paid healthcare professionals in Malta".

He then listed several grievances nurses had, including the fact that they work 46 hours per week without being paid overtime, losing allowances that boost pay after 15 days of sick leave, and waiting three years for the relative pay packet to kick in when nurses are promoted to a higher managerial scale.

Another anomaly, Pace added, was that nurses with a degree started at Scale 10 whereas in all other government jobs, people with a degree started at Scale 9.

Government must put forward proper proposals, PN says

In reaction to the Health Ministry’s request, the Nationalist Party insists that the government must put forward adequate proposals for nurses and midwives.

“The government cannot make a scapegoat of workers who are asking for what they deserve and working to better their work conditions to make the sector more attractive.”

The party accused government of dragging their feet on the sectoral agreement for nurses and midwives and on the €400 million paid to Steward Healthcare to operate three local hospitals.

“The Nationalist Party will stand shoulder to shoulder with the workers so that they can get what they deserve and they can continue to offer the best services to Maltese and Gozitan patients.”

READ ALSO: Nurses must shoulder responsibility of strike’s harm to patients, Malta surgeons say