The General Workers’ Union has hit back at claims that an agreement it signed last month to improve the pay conditions of nursing aides is “illegal”.
Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin recently accused the government of breaking the law by going behind its back and striking a deal for nursing aides with the GWU.
The UĦM’s assistant director Gian Paul Gauci said the union was asked to sign the deal without even having been invited to take part in the negotiations.
GWU official Jeremy Camilleri told the Times of Malta that the agreement merely rectified an anomaly that saw some nursing aides employed on a lower pay scale than their colleagues.
“In 1996 a one-time agreement was struck, allowing nursing aides to move up from scale 14 to scale 13, which was very good for the time. The problem was that this created an anomaly as all nursing aides employed after the agreement was signed were engaged on scale 14.”
Mr Camilleri said that the GWU had tried to get the UĦM on board but the union never showed any interest.
The new government said it was ready to rectify the situation and did so. The UĦM were invited to sign the agreement but refused
The issue ended up in court after negotiations with the previous government broke down, he said.
“The new government said it was ready to rectify the situation and did so. The UĦM were invited to sign the agreement but refused. Now they are saying it is illegal.”
The agreement only applies to those nursing aides who were put on a lower pay scale and is not an agreement applicable to all health workers. “If the UĦM is objecting to us getting these nursing aides on par with their colleagues then we are guilty as charged.
“I cannot understand why they are making such a fuss. This was a fight that the UĦM never showed any interest in,” Mr Camilleri said.
The agreement signed between the government and the GWU will grant nursing aides who suffered discrimination a one-off compensation of €1,000.
Mr Camilleri said the UĦM’s claim that the agreement was “illegal” ended up worrying nursing aides unnecessarily.
“The nursing aides were very angry at this declaration.
“There was a rumour going round that the deal would not go through because of this, but I can assure that this is not the case,” Mr Camilleri said.
GWU chief Josef Bugeja said the UĦM was merely irritated that it was his union that struck the agreement.
jacob.borg@timesofmalta.com