More infighting among nurses

Nurses are again mired in infighting after another rift developed, this time in a recently formed group that had broken away from their union.

A statement issued by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses yesterday said that mediation which had been taking place between itself and the group stopped prematurely.

The group of eight former council members had resigned last month after disagreeing with the directives the union issued in a dispute with health authorities last November.

But now they have even fallen out with their group leader Tommy Dimech, who was asked not to attend any further meetings with the union's council.

Speaking to The Times, one of these eight members, Corinne Ward said the former council members has asked for a meeting with the council on Wednesday and added that Mr Dimech will not be attending.

"There will not be any more one-to-one meetings between (union president) Paul (Pace) and Tommy. From now on, the meetings will be between the council and the former council members," she said.

But the MUMN said yesterday it was unwilling to speak to any of them as long as Mr Dimech is not involved in the discussions.

The MUMN pointed out that the mediation was not stopped by the union or by Mr Dimech but by "others who were of a different opinion", before adding that it will not be commenting in public about the matter anymore.

Attempts to contact Mr Dimech yesterday were unsuccessful.

The group had first quarrelled with the union's leadership after the MUMN ordered hard-hitting directives, but the situation really deteriorated after Ms Ward stepped down.

She gave as a reason the fact that she had only learnt about a 10-year, biennial grant of €58,000, which had been in place for some time, during a meeting between the union and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi before the general election.