Ex-MUMN officials in drive to change union leadership

Eight former council members of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses will be raising a petition to hold an extraordinary general meeting to change the union's leadership.

Former union vice-president Tommy Dimech, who is leading the group, said many union members were unhappy with how the MUMN was being led and they were calling on president Paul Pace and general secretary Colin Galea to resign.

In the meantime, the group will be collecting signatures from the union's members to call an extraordinary general conference when they plan to move a motion of no confidence in the union leadership. In terms of the statute, such a meeting can be called if the petition is signed by 25 per cent of the paid-up membership.

At a press conference yesterday, council member Corinne Ward and former assistant general secretary Ray Chetcuti, the latest two council members to resign from the MUMN council, explained why they left the union.

Ms Ward listed lack of democracy and lack of information as the two main reasons why she had resigned.

She said Mr Pace and Mr Galea were not informing the council about important matters, primarily the purchase of the union's new office in Mosta and the recent directives to midwives and nurses over disagreement on the new collective agreement.

She said the directives were not even discussed at council level before they were issued.

Mr Chetcuti said his resignation had nothing to do with the removal of former MUMN president Rudolph Cini from his position as the union's honorary president.

Mr Dimech said that whatever the ex-council members were doing was for the sake of strengthening the MUMN and restoring its credibility. He said they had more information of people who wanted to resign from the MUMN but said more details will be made public in the near future.

Contacted, Mr Pace said that, as a democratic organisation, the MUMN will be replacing the council members who resigned so that it can continue with its work. He said nobody will muzzle the union.

He said the former council members who addressed the press conference had "a hidden agenda".

Mr Pace said the internal problems at MUMN and the Malta Union of Teachers were connected to their opposition to the water and electricity tariffs.

"The MUMN is a dynamic, pro-active union that is greatly involved in the establishment of standards of care.

"My loyalty is not to a small group of people with a hidden agenda but to the union's 2,500 members."