The MUMN union of nurses and midwives will not reintroduce directives for industrial action as a sign of goodwill, despite the strong rejection of the government’s proposed package.

Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses president Paul Pace said the final package presented by the government was "humiliating" for his members and the two sides are still "very far" from reaching any agreement. 

On Tuesday evening, 97.6% of union members voted "No" to the government's financial package at an extraordinary general meeting attended by 804 nurses and midwives. This, the union said, was the biggest ever meeting since its founding in 1996.

"We are giving the government another chance before ordering directives again. Nurses do not deserve to be put in a bad light as the authorities tried to do while they were following directives. They are our heroes and deserve special concessions," Pace told a news conference on Wednesday.

He said the union had written to the health minister and expected to be called in for a meeting soon although no ultimatum was given. 

Asked by Times of Malta, Pace insisted that the decision not to order directives should not be misinterpreted as a sign of weakness but rather one of goodwill, also considering the difficulties the action places on the sick.

The union, he said, did not believe in reconciliation meetings through a mediator who was not unanimously agreed upon and who was fully paid by the government. 

Asked about the €6,000 increase mentioned by Health Minister Chris Fearne, Pace said the union did not know how this figure had been reached. 

However, he said the union believed it was the sum of an increase in allowances of around €2,000, another €2,000 in overtime, and another €2,000 if nurses work up to 60 hours a week. 

Pace said nurses and midwives were hurt by Fearne's comments that he cannot give more to one child because he was screaming more than the others. 

"This is not about screaming children but if there's a child who needs more attention than the others, in our case due to burnout and stress, you need to treat them differently and make special concessions," he said. 

There are enough doctors and allied health workers but there's a shortage of nurses. It is challenging to sustain the present services let alone add new ones, he added.

No appreciation whatsoever

Asked for the main stumbling blocks, Pace said these were the introduction of palm readers, the reintroduction of the robotic system for the distribution of medication and the digitalisation of processes. 

Pace said other workers in hospitals do not use palm readers and this would apply only to nurses and midwives, which was unacceptable and unfair. 

The robotic system for pills never worked properly and, on digitalisation, Pace said nurses should not be behind computers but by patients' bedsides. There were only three nurses with every 24 patients and the shortage was obvious to everyone. 

In the proposed financial package, nurses will reach other professionals in 2027 when these already had these salaries for three years.

"How will we attract nurses? There is no appreciation whatsoever. Hospitals are managed by nurses because consultants would have long gone by the afternoon or evening. The pay package will mean that nurses and midwives will remain the lowest paid among the professionals working in hospital," Pace said. 

Most nurses work a 46-hour week but are only paid for 40 hours. And the overtime pay the government is offering only comes into force in a year, Pace insisted.

He said the union also wanted a 10% tax rate for overtime like the police had. But the government was only offering this to those who worked 56 hours, and who will receive a bonus of €1,000 in a year. 

The COVID allowance, Pace said, was also not mentioned in the government’s document. "Other professionals stayed home but we remained at the bedside of patients," Pace said. 

Another issue is that nurses who are promoted will retain the same package for three years.

"Why this discrimination? Why do they want to reduce allowances after the first 15 days of sickness? It doesn't make sense that it's on the public service management code but not applied across the board. Doctors, teachers and educators are exempted but not nurses," he said.

Pace added that the shift allowance is a paltry €26 a month, "not even enough to buy a ribeye steak". 

And "the reasons why nurses were leaving were not addressed," he added.