Paramedic aides at Mater Dei Hospital will continue to strike until their working conditions are improved, their union said yesterday.

Speaking to the press yesterday surrounded by the Mater Dei employees, Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin secretary general Josef Vella said the workers had been fighting for a collective agreement, with the union’s support, since November 2013.

“We’ve been to and from the negotiating table six times. We have been told there was good will, but so far we have not seen that in practice. These workers don’t want empty words, they want concrete results,” he said.

Directives were issued last Thursday after union representatives attended a negotiation meeting only to be told, after an hour of waiting, that the meeting had been postponed as an agreement could not be reached between the Health Department and the Office of the Prime Minister.

Paramedic aides normally process patients’ blood tests before they are passed on to professionals at the laboratory. Despite graduating with a diploma, the union says they are paid the equivalent of people who only possess an O-level standard of education.

Mr Vella said the value of the paramedic aides’ work was only being recognised now industrial directives had been issued. Around the negotiating table, in contrast, the feeling from the authorities was they did not merit improved conditions.

A spokeswoman for the health parliamentary secretariat yesterday reiterated that, in light of the directives, discussions with the UĦM were ongoing to find a solution.

The health department said it would continue to take all necessary measures to ensure that patients are served in the best possible way.