Health division considering legal action over car park strike

The health division is considering taking legal action against the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses over tomorrow`s planned two-hour strike in protest at a rise in fees at a car park close to St Luke`s Hospital.

Director general for health Ray Busuttil said the planned industrial action was not legitimate as it did not relate to poor working conditions or a breach in the collective agreement.

He said the action would have an impact on the service provided to patients and on the 800 to 1,000 visitors daily.

However, given that the strike would only last two hours, the emergency cover being provided by the union was adequate, he said.

The car park has been passed on to the Pieta` council by the government and the parking fee for hospital workers is to rise from 10 cents to 35 cents a day.

Later yesterday, the General Workers` Union joined the action, directing its nurses, midwives, paramedics, technical and industrial workers and hospital auxiliaries to report for work at 9 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. for the same reason.

The MUMN strike is scheduled to take place at the same time.

Dr Busuttil said the division did not have any agreement or arrangement with any category of employees to subsidise or pay their parking fees.

He said the motives behind the MUMN`s action went further than that.

"The new hospital will have a public car park taking up to 2,000 cars. I shall leave it up to you to conclude what their intentions can be," he said. This car park will be used against payment.

He said the car park next to the hospital had been in existence for the past six or seven years and the health department had been given the lower ground and upper levels. The two middle storeys were used by the public.

In March, 2000, the Lands Department passed on the administration of the building to the health division and the Pieta` council immediately submitted a request to take over.

The car park used to be administered by a licensed parker. The division, Dr Busuttil said, had never received any funds from the administration and had no say in the fares charged.

He said that during talks with the council, the division took the initiative to try to obtain a special arrangement for division employees.

The council accepted the proposal and said that as a special concession, hospital staff would be charged 30c plus VAT

Instead of receiving thanks for taking such an initiative, the division was now faced with industrial action.

The GWU said in its statement that it was ordering its action because the division was choosing to abdicate its social responsibility to subsidise the cost of parking for workers who used the car park.

While it understood that 10c was perhaps no longer a suitable price for current times, the GWU said it could not accept the other extreme: of workers being constrained to pay the commercial price of 35c imposed by the council.

This contrasted with the fact that professionals had guaranteed free parking, the union held.

The Malta Medical Students` Association and the Helath Care Students Organisation said in a joint statement that students studying at the hospital had not been taken into account in the reduced parking fee scheme that the health authorities had agreed with the Pieta` council.

"We students spend around five hours each day, five times a week, at St Luke`s Hospital, and parking is as much of a problem for us as it is for the rest of the hospital staff.

"In fact, it is worse for students because we are not allowed to park within the hospital grounds.

"Since we were ignored during the setting up of the new scheme, students would have to pay 50c a day should they wish to use the car park, and we obviously earn much, much less than hospital staff."

The students suggested the setting up of a car sharing system between those working in hospital, including students.

Such a system had already been adopted at the university, where those sharing a car were able to benefit from specially allocated areas.

If such a system were adopted at the hosptial, those sharing could additionally benefit from cheaper parking and it would also contribute towards a healthier population, the students said.