Pace blames ‘envious’ critics for MaltaToday report

Nurses’ union boss Paul Pace has taken exception to MaltaToday’s report on the employment of his son on a ‘person of trust’ basis by the Labour government, to act as a procurement officer at the St Vincent de Paul state home for the elderly.

Pace’s son, Nicholas, 20, was employed on a Scale 7 salary without any call for applications to take up the post vetting tenders and procurement orders for the hospital.

In a notice which the MUMN president issued to all members of his union, Pace said his son had been “targeted” to the exception of “all the persons of trust employed by all governments”.

MORE Union boss’s son, 20, being paid €21,000 on ‘person of trust’ basis

In his missive, Pace reaffirmed his role as defender of nurses’ interests and promised members that nothing would deter him from safeguarding their working conditions.

Pace claimed that his role in defending nurses and midwives had made people “envious” enough to hit out at him. “I have nothing to be ashamed of… Rest assured [of] my continuous commitment not to you as members of MUMN only, but also to the good of our professions.”

Pace’s son was employed on a ‘person of trust’ basis to take up the post of procurement officer at St Vincent de Paul home for the elderly, but the ministry has not explained what qualifications justified Pace’s appointment.

The departmental job could have been filled by an internal or external call for applications, but Pace was engaged at SVPR on a €21,000 salary on the strength of a political appointment.