Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses president Paul Pace has dismissed a call for his resignation by his predecessor even as a newly set-up committee of former union officials did not exclude challenging the president's post.

"Nobody will shut us (the union) up. Our loyalty is towards our members and not Mr (Rudolph) Cini," Mr Pace told The Times.

In the morning Mr Cini, the union's former president, said his successor should step down for having breached the confidentially of the union's council and because of abuse of power.

The clash between the two goes back two weeks when Mr Cini questioned hard-hitting directives issued by the union despite a poorly attended rally for members. This led an urgent council meeting called by Mr Pace to discuss Mr Cini's post as honorary president.

The decision has not been made officially known, and when contacted following the meeting, Mr Pace said council decisions will not be made public. However, the union's former treasurer, Maryanne Bugeja, said she was told by Mr Pace himself that Mr Cini would be removed from the post.

Yesterday, Mr Pace would not deny or confirm whether Mr Cini has indeed been removed.

The threat to Mr Cini's symbolic post has led a number of former union council members to set up a committee, although they insisted they do not have any intention of setting up another branch of the union.

"Our aim is to monitor the situation," former union deputy president Tommy Dimech said, adding that more information would be revealed to the media in due course.

However, he said if the need was felt the committee might challenge Mr Pace's post, adding that the union's statute does allow for the president to be removed if enough union members want this.

During a press conference called by the committee in front of the union's offices in Mosta, Mr Cini said he will appeal the decision to remove him from the symbolic post, about which he has not yet been formally notified.

He will also inform the International Council of Nurses, of which he is one of the directors, about what was happening. He was also considering taking legal action.

Mr Cini, who is contesting next year's MEP elections on the Nationalist Party ticket, insisted that his comments about the directives did not go against the union's statute and were only intended to encourage the union not to steer away from its objectives.

He said nurses and midwives have expressed concern about the behaviour of union officials, and offered him their support.

But when contacted yesterday Mr Pace said his predecessor's whole speech was irrelevant to the union's council.

"Nobody will muzzle the union and stop us from speaking out about our members' working conditions," he said, adding that the union would continue addressing the current problems faced by nurses and unions with the health authorities for the benefit of its members.

He also said that a letter outlining the council's decision will be sent to Mr Cini soon and will also be copied to the media.