Nine enrolled nurses yesterday called on the authorities to stop executing a decision which meant that they were downgraded from Scale 11, asked to refund an increase in salary over the last four years and suffer a reduction in salary.

Bernadette Agius, Mary Apap, Joseph Bartolo, Alexandra Falzon, Jane Inguanez, Catherine Micallef, Rita Refalo, Mary Grace Scerri and Therese Decelis filed a judicial protest in the Civil Court against the prime minister and the chief government medical officer.

The nurses claimed they had been assimilated to the grade of Enrolled Nurse at Scale 11 and officially informed of this by letters from the Health Minister between November 1996 and August 2000 in which it was explained that the change had taken place as part of the reform to the public service.

They were also told that the assimilation had taken place with retroactive effect and that, upon receipt of the letter, they had assumed duties and responsibilities as enrolled nurses.

But they had recently been informed that their assimilation had taken place in error and were requested to refund the extra received in consideration for work they had carried out at scale 11.

Some of the nine nurses had also sustained deductions from their wages without receiving any prior information or being consulted.

They declared that the CGMO could not, after the passage of so much time, revoke a decision he himself had taken on the pretext that the earlier decision had been taken in error.

The nurses added that the CGMO was not entitled to declare that their assimilation had taken place in error because it had been approved by the Public Service Commission.

Had a genuine error been committed, this would have been noted years ago and not after four years had elapsed.

The nurses declared that their assimilation to Scale 11 had taken place correctly and not in error, and that furthermore, once the assimilation had been officially approved, the decision could not then be arbitrarily and unilaterally revoked.

Dr Chris Cilia signed the protest.

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