Ambulance drivers' dispute resolved
Service to be considered as "essential" in new law
The government and the Union Haddiema Maghqudin yesterday resolved the 11-week ambulance drivers' dispute in an hour-long meeting at the social policy ministry.
The agreement provides for new training opportunities for the drivers as a means to improve their career prospects and a new on-call allowance.
It was also agreed that the ambulance drivers will be included in the list of essential services annexed to the new industrial relations bill, giving them the opportunity to refer any grievance to arbitration.
Workers deemed to provide an essential service may not take industrial action without providing a minimum service, but they will be able to refer their case for arbitration.
The agreement was reached during a meeting between union officials led by UHM general secretary Gejtu Vella and government officials led by Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi, Health Minister Louis Deguara and the Director General for Health Ray Busuttil.
Mr Vella said the union was satisfied that the meeting - which lasted more than one hour - has led to a solution.
"This agreement should fulfil the aspirations of both the ambulance drivers and the public in general in the sense that if in the future the union and the government have another dispute involving ambulance drivers, this will be referred to arbitration. This will mean that the public will not be hit by the dispute," he said.
Mr Vella said that industrial actions had now been lifted and the situation had already returned to normal. The union, Mr Vella said, would be calling a meeting for the 50 ambulance drivers involved in the dispute to explain to them the details of the agreement.
Ambulance drivers had, up to last Tuesday, only been answering emergency calls. The dispute stemmed from their call for an allowance after having followed a first-aid course.
Mr Vella said the union was satisfied that through the new arrangement, the drivers' working conditions had been improved as they would be given an on-call allowance and more training.
As a result, relativity with other workers had been restored.
Asked whether it had been necessary for the issue to drag for 11-weeks, Mr Vella said that when both sides in a dispute felt they were in the right and they had no means of arbitration, such disputes had a tendency to get prolonged.
"With the agreement that has been reached, in the future we will have a structure of arbitration in place to deal with such disputes with the least inconvenience for the public."