MUMN threatens protest action

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses announced yesterday that if the matter regarding the employment of nurses at St Luke's Hospital was not resolved by Wednesday this week, it would stage a protest outside the office of the Prime Minister in Castille at 10 a.m. that day.

In a statement, MUMN general secretary Colin Galea said the union was again requesting a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the dispute on the employment of nurses who have just completed their studies in order to ease the burden of nurses employed in the eight over-crowded medicine wards in St Luke's.

He was informed, he added, that the number of vacancies in state hospitals had been determined and that the number of nurses who graduated this year was not enough to fill all the vacancies.

Mr Galea noted that although the Prime Minister had publicly declared he had no objection to a meeting with the union, a meeting had still not taken place and consequently, the union was ready to take to the streets if this issue was not resolved by Wednesday.

MUMN ordered industrial action last Saturday at St Luke's Hospital when about 40 nurses walked out on a strike between 9.30 and 11.30 a.m. to protest against the deteriorating situation in the wards at the hospital.