Industrial directives by nurses and midwives at the Gozo General Hospital, planned for Monday, have been called off after their union and the authorities ironed out their disagreement.

On Tuesday, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses set the stage for an industrial dispute, saying the government was meddling in the running of the Gozo General Hospital.

The union had said that it had struck a deal with the hospital management concerning new rosters which were meant to start being implemented on Monday. But everything ground to a halt after hospital management received a telephone call from the Health Ministry, the union had claimed.

It warned that should the roster agreement not be honoured by Monday, nurses and midwives at the Gozo hospital would begin industrial action, starting with operating theatres.

When contacted, MUMN general secretary Colin Galea confirmed that following a meeting with Health Minister Chris Fearne, Steward Healthcare president Armin Ernst - the former Vitals CEO - and other health care officials on Thursday morning, the concerns over the new rosters were clarified and they will start being implemented over the coming days.

The union was assured that once Steward Healthcare takes over, they would be building on the current staff management protocol. They are also committed towards the new nursing school of Northumbria, he said.

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Earlier this morning, Times of Malta was informed that physiotherapists have been given a date to discuss their sectoral agreement, and MUMN agreed to suspend the industrial action planned for Monday.

Meanwhile, MUMN will be meeting the authorities on Friday over another industrial dispute, which has seen it ordering about 200 nurses to strike between 7am and 7pm if more staff are not assigned to the theatre by the end of this week.