Nursing aides have been in disagreement with the government over issues relating to pay, rosters and a premium allowance. Since the General Workers’ Union (GWU), which represents the nursing aides, considered that these issues were not being addressed properly, the trade union resorted to partial industrial action on several occasions. GWU was also annoyed when the government decided to reach an agreement with the Union of United Workers instead.
Industrial action at hospitals and health centres
In August 2007, the General Workers’ Union (GWU) commenced partial industrial action for nursing aides in all hospitals and health centres, as the government continued to adopt a rigid approach regarding three pending issues: pay regarding nursing aides’ right to wage scale 13, the roster and a premium allowance for three categories. The strike action followed an industrial dispute over the system to record the hours worked by nursing aides in the first half of 2007 (MT0706039I).
Nursing aides, health assistants and care workers were instructed to carry out food-related jobs only. Thus, the nursing aides did not carry out jobs linked to the migration to the new Mater Dei Hospital, nor did they process medical files and X-rays, take appointments, change beds and nappies, or wash patients. This put an extra burden on the nurses, allegedly leading to psychological stress. Health authorities appealed to patients’ relatives to give a helping hand and visiting hours were extended.
GWU requests government meeting
The GWU Government and Public Entities Section Secretary, Louis Marsh, conceded that the protest was having a negative effect on patients but emphasised that the government had driven them to take such action after it stopped discussions on the outstanding issues. Mr Marsh explained during a press conference that industrial action would be suspended on the day that a meeting was held with the government authorities. GWU had been in contact with the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) asking for a meeting date. Following this, the Ministry of Health, the Elderly and Community Care stated that it was willing to set a meeting date once the trade union called off its protest.
After seven days of industrial action, GWU suspended its week-long protest following an agreement to meet with the health ministry to resume negotiations on the existing dispute. However, the meeting resulted in deadlock, leading to the reinstatement of the protests. Mr Marsh underlined that the trade union would not call off its strike action until a meeting with the authorities was held and GWU was assured that the government’s intentions were ‘serious’. After a 12-day period, GWU again suspended its protest action, after an agreement was reached to restart meetings with the government in a bid to resolve the dispute.
Inter-union rivalries
After the first meeting between the delegations from GWU, the health and finance ministries and OPM, Mr Marsh noted that the government was adopting a less rigid approach. A sub-committee was set up to tackle the technical issues. However, GWU suspended its talks after the Ministry of Health concluded an agreement with the Union of United Workers (Union Haddiema Maghqudin, UHM) over the pending issues. GWU claimed that it was kept in the dark about this agreement with UHM; GWU had formally requested to be recognised as the trade union representing the majority of workers in this dispute.
According to a statement issued by UHM, nursing aides were to benefit from sponsored training courses to enhance their career advancement. UHM was assured that nursing aides would start receiving their due allowance, and an agreement was also reached over the roster issue and the working hours of these employees. For its part, GWU stated that negotiations would be suspended until it is awarded ‘sole recognition’. Mr Marsh argued that the majority of nursing aides were GWU members.
In September 2007, after GWU did not receive any feedback from the authorities, it reinstated its protest action in hospitals, health centres and homes for elderly people. This time the trade union affirmed that talks would remain suspended until it received sole recognition.
Commentary
The ambiguity in Maltese legislation about trade union recognition came to the fore in this issue. It also revealed the poor inter-union relationships that exist between the two general and biggest trade union movements in Malta.
Christine Farrugia and Manwel Debono, Centre for Labour Studies