A former official of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses claimed yesterday that a government grant of thousands of euros had never been mentioned during council meetings.
Corinne Ward, who resigned from the council last week, said she only learned that the union was being given the money after a meeting between the union and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi just before March's general election.
"The council never discussed this money or how we were going to spend it. We did not even know about it," she said.
According to a Health Ministry spokesman, the union was given about €58,000 every two years for the next 10 years for training purposes. This was part of the collective agreement signed last year, which had been dubbed by former Health Minister Louis Deguara as "historic".
Union president Paul Pace would not comment on Ms Ward's claims, saying only that he would not divulge issues discussed within the union's council. He would not even confirm whether the union had been given the money.
This was the latest twist in a row between the union and a recently formed group of former council officials, which saw its birth last month after the MUMN ordered hard-hitting directives following a dispute with the authorities.
Yesterday, the union said it had replaced Ms Ward and Ray Chetcuti, who resigned from the council earlier this week. The new officials are midwife Antoniette Saliba and nursing officer Mario Aquilina.
It also said the council unanimously decided not to waste its energy in bickering with those who were trying to damage the union and alienate its members from existing problems.
Meanwhile, the new group, led by former union vice-president Tommy Dimech, yesterday started collecting signatures for a vote of no confidence in the current union leadership.
"We have had a very good response from nurses," Mr Dimech said, although he was unable to say how many signatures had been collected.
MUMN general secretary Colin Galea said he was seeking legal advice because those collecting signatures were not telling nurses why they were doing so.
In fact, he said, some nurses who signed the petition had asked to have their names removed.
This was denied by Mr Dimech, who insisted that nurses had been informed that the signatures were being collected to call an extraordinary general meeting at which a motion of no confidence in the current union leadership would be moved.