Nurses` union wants sectoral agreement and wage increases

The Malta Union of Nurses and Midwives will not accept a new collective agreement which does not include wage increases, as has been intimated by the government, Colin Galea, MUMN general secretary said yesterday.

Nor will the union accept a general collective agreement for the whole civil service instead of a sectoral agreement, Mr Galea said.

The MUMN will be meeting representatives of the Management and Personnel Office at the Office of the Prime Minister on Wednesday to discuss the new collective agreement for 2002-2004.

The last collective agreement expired last December. Mr Galea said that the last meeting with the MPO was also attended by the Malta Union of Teachers, the Medical Association of Malta and the Chamber of Pharmacists.

Tomorrow the union is expected to meet Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi over the White Paper to amend the Conditions of Employment (Regulation) Act and the Industrial Relations Act.

The union is complaining that according to the White Paper, it would be practically impossible for nurses to go on strike because during strike action, 120 nurses would have to remain on duty.

The White Paper is also proposing that nursing managers would not be allowed to join a union, a fact that the MUMN considers unconstitutional.

This week the MUMN will be meeting Dr Ray Busuttil, director of the health division, during its monthly meeting.

Mr Galea said that the union has been discussing support staff for nurses with the Health Department.

These workers include ward clerks, porters and couriers, care worker assistants and nursing aides.

"With so many subsidiary workers missing, nurses have to spend a lot of time carrying out duties which have nothing to do directly with care of patients," Mr Galea said.

The health department needed to decide when to make an external call for applications after an internal call elicited applications for porters mostly from the cleaning division.

This meant that the hospital would be dismantling one division to build another if it were to accept those applications. About 40 wards clerks are needed.

He said that the outcome of the talks the union is scheduled to have this week would guide the union on the kind of action to take.

"If the results of these talks are negative, the MUMN would consider calling an extraordinary general meeting to inform its members, which total about 2,000, about the situation," he said.