Mediator tries to solve nurses' row

The row between the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses and a group of former union council members could be resolved by a mediator who is trying to iron out the differences.

Former union vice-president Tommy Dimech, who is leading the group of former council officials, and MUMN general secretary Colin Galea confirmed that two meetings have already taken place.

Mr Dimech said the group of ex-council members has stopped collecting signatures for a petition calling for a vote of no confidence in the present union leadership.

"We want to see what happens before deciding whether we will continue calling for the leadership's resignation," he said.

Last night the union held an extraordinary meeting where it outlined the council's work since it was elected in March last year.

Mr Galea said the union was not excluding withdrawing a judicial protest filed in court last week against former council member Corinne Ward. They had asked her to withdraw allegations, which they felt were aimed to harm the union and its leadership.

After resigning from the council, Ms Ward claimed that a government grant of thousands of euro had never been mentioned during council meetings.

However, Ms Ward yesterday filed a counter-protest denying the union's allegations, reiterating that, by the time she resigned earlier this month, the council had never discussed the grant.

She said she resigned from the council because she did not agree with the union's leadership and could not accept decisions taken unilaterally by union president Paul Pace without consultation.

She also claimed that she was only informed the union was buying new headquarters when negotiations were at an advanced stage.

Ms Ward said she could not accept industrial actions which jeopardised patients' health.