MUMN welcomes changes in trade union membership verification process

Welcoming the new process of union membership verifications pushed by Social Dialogue Minister Helena Dalli, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) said the new process was far more just and transparent than the process adopted by the employees of the Department for Industrial and Employment Relations (DIER).

MUMN also said that it had been “the first union in the country” to make use of the new process for union membership verification.

“The new process is more transparent for both the employee and the unions concerned in the verification," MUMN President Paul Pace said.

The union said that it couldn’t understand how any employee’s association such as the Malta Employer’s Association (MEA) expected to be consulted on the verification of new members, as consultation on any employee of the Labour Office was not possible in the past regardless of social partners.

MUMN said that the changes had to be made since the Director of Labour had suspended all verification being done by his employees. According to MUMN, this happened after a particular union acquired full recognition of the employees working in the DIER, which led to a conflict of interest.  As a result, the Director of Labour himself suspended all verifications done by his employees.

According to MUMN, such action by the Director of Labour prompted Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties, Helena Dalli, to act quickly: “This is particularly because unions such as MUMN, who have been waiting for a verification process for more than six months, will not accept to wait any longer,” Dalli said.

“The new process involves meetings with all stakeholders including the union/s and the employers as a clarification on the process of verification which is about to take place. Such meetings are a huge improvement since the employees working in the DIER never consulted or provided any information to the employee and the union concerned before,” she said.

The MUMN announced that it welcomed the initiative taken by Dalli, for acting promptly and for appointing highly experienced people on industrial trade relationships for such verification processes.

"It would have been better for certain employer’s associations to experience the new process adopted by such highly experienced members appointed by the minister before criticizing and declaring disputes," Pace said.