A new collective agreement for nurses and midwives will see them earn “the best salaries they have ever had in Malta”, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Saturday.

The prime minister said the deal would cost the state “tens of millions of euro” over its five-year span, but said it would be money well spent as it would lead to an improved healthcare service.

The proposed collective agreement will improve salaries and conditions for nurses and midwives over a five-year period and introduce further incentives for people to take up the vocational profession, among other things.

It was approved by 87 per cent of Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses members late on Friday, meaning the agreement can now be formally signed and come into effect.

The union vote draws the curtain on a long drawn-out tussle between the government and MUMN which began several months ago, and which at one stage erupted into open conflict between the two sides.

Speaking on Labour-owned radio station ONE, Abela said many of the MUMN’s requests had been implemented in the deal.

He noted that the government has signed several collective agreements over the past few years and cited similar deals penned with the Civil Protection Department, Armed Forces and teachers as cases in point.

“We need a strong economy to be able to finance such deals,” he said. “Economic growth needs to feed things like this, which improve workers’ conditions.”

The prime minister also praised MUMN for having insisted on strengthening measures to entice people to become nurses and midwives.

Europe, including Malta, faces a chronic shortage of nursing staff and must often resort to recruiting staff from overseas to try and fill caregiving roles.