Nurses' union honorary president unaware of his fate
"I think they decided to strike while the iron is hot"
The former president of the nurses' union is still in the dark as to whether he will be unseated as honorary president after voicing concern over industrial action he believes could have put patients' lives at risk.
Rudolph Cini, who is contesting next year's MEP elections on the Nationalist Party ticket, said: "I think they decided to strike while the iron is hot because their intention to remove me as honorary president has been clear for some time".
The council of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses met on Friday evening but president Paul Pace would not divulge the outcome, saying only that council decisions will not be made public.
"In this case, I think no news is bad news and they are going ahead with their threat to remove me from the post," Mr Cini said. He said that in his last contact with Mr Pace he was told that the council would be meeting to discuss Mr Cini's position as honorary president.
The issue revolves around comments made by Mr Cini on Wednesday after the union announced hard-hitting directives that were meant to kick off today but were suspended to allow talks with the government to be held. Social Policy Minister John Dalli insisted that he would only speak to the union if the strike action was suspended, which the union did. Mr Cini had expressed concern that the directives were issued at a poorly-attended rally and pointed out that whoever issued them was ultimately responsible for any negative repercussions on patients.
One directive in particular, ordering nurses working at the Renal Unit to stop being on call, could have had serious repercussions on patients needing urgent dialysis, with hospital superintendent Frank Bartolo saying that patients' lives being at risk were that to happen.
A day after he announced his candidature, the MUMN had dissociated itself from Mr Cini's interest in contesting the elections, saying that the union's council did not allow council members to be involved in partisan politics.
Correspondence between Mr Cini and union general secretary Colin Galea, seen by The Times, shows that the former president already felt he was being given the cold shoulder by the MUMN back in March.
"The cold war has been there for a while and now it looks like it's coming out in the open." Mr Cini insisted that he does not regret his comments, saying that he merely intended to caution the union.
When contacted, Parliamentary Secretary Mario Galea, who is also a nurse, admitted he would be concerned should the union take action against Mr Cini, adding that this would be a step against democracy. "He has every right to voice his opinion," he said.