The government has requested a conciliation process with the Malta Union of Nurses and Midwives (MUMN) following what the government said was “months of negotiations during which 13 meetings were held regarding the new collective agreement for nurses and midwives.”

In a statement, the Health Ministry said that “this is a necessary action to ensure that even at at time where talks are going ongoing about a collective agreement that has matured, vulnerable patients are given the necessary care and therefore appeal for the negotiations to take place in this spirit of good faith and responsibility towards those who need the health service.”

“A number of proposals were made in these meetings by the government with the aim of strengthening the working conditions and income of nurses,” the Ministry said. “This is something that the government has done consistently with workers in the health sector with various collective agreements that have been agreed and signed in recent years.”

The Ministry went on to say that “the proposals presented to MUMN in these negotiations were even improved several times and that is why at this moment, where so many patients are being affected by unjustified and reasonable industrial actions, and in the context of increases significant proposals by the government, that the government is choosing to request this conciliation process.”

It concluded by saying that “this is with responsibility, both towards the employees who want to improve their conditions, and towards the patients who must always be given all the necessary care.”

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