The Medical Association Malta has registered an industrial dispute and is preparing to issue directives to its members on Monday.

The dispute was registered on the basis of non-compliance with the current collective agreement in areas such as the implementation of career progression for a number of grades and the non-implementation of extra sessions for resident specialists.

The association also complained about what it said were illegal shifts and said that in Gozo a number of doctors have not been paid according to their collective agreement.
Retired consultants were not being paid according to the collective agreement. 

Furthermore, a number of calls for the recruitment of consultants had not been made despite their urgency. 

The union said it also has a dispute with the University over the collective agreement for staff in the Medical School.

Industrial dispute declared to the detriment of the patients’ wellbeing - MUMN

In a statement, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses slammed the decision taken by MAM.

MAM always stressed that the unions, especially in the Health sector, should avoid directives as not to affect the patient’s health. In fact, MAM labels MUMN as a highly militant union. MAM has always attacked MUMN when issuing directives and always pointed out that the patients can suffer due to directives which according to MAM, this should be avoided at all costs. Then MAM proceeds to adopt a highly militant strategy, declared an industrial dispute which will effect negatively patient care on an issue which according the industrial law, MAM has no right. The law clearly states that every employer including the University and the Maltese Government will only negotiate with the union/s which have an official recognition to have the majority of the workers in that sector when issues of collective agreement are concerned.

MAM is now expecting that University goes against industrial law by stomping its feet, acting as a bully, knowing very well that as a Union it does not possess any industrial recognition or any majority of lecturers in the University.

For clarification purposes, it must be pointed out that, for instance, there are nurses working in the Faculty of Science who are members of MUMN but that does not entitle MUMN to be part of the negotiations for the collective agreement for the university lectures. MAM should have sought legal advice on industrial matters and should have been aware that having the majority of doctors serving in the medical school as members (which medical school possess a small fraction of academics at the University) does not give you the right to be on the negotiation table of a collective agreement concerning the academic staff of the whole University. This principle applies to all unions in all sectors.

MAM is simply using the pretext of “pending issues” with the Health Division to put pressure on the University of Malta and all this goes against the good spirit of industrial relations. Worse still MAM is attempting to use patient health services to attain its far-fetched aims. This is simply not right. Furthermore, MAM had ample time to discuss with the representative unions at the University if its members had any concerns relating to the collective agreement of academics. The whole dynamics employed by MAM is wrong regarding legal and industrial ethics and MUMN is appealing to MAM so to not use the patients to apply pressure on the University of Malta. 

MAM does not enjoy representation at the University of Malta - UMASA  

In another development, the members at the University of Malta Academic Staff Association (UMASA) unanimously voted in favour of a motion proposed by one of its own members at their Extraordinary General Meeting held on Wednesday, the 30th of July 2014. The motion stated UMASA’s general assembly strongly condemns The Medical Association of Malta (MAM) eleventh hour attempt to derail the legitimately negotiated collective agreement for the academic staff at the University of Malta, when it is clear that MAM does not enjoy representation at the University of Malta according to Maltese law. The general assembly is especially disappointed in noting that this attempt came from a fellow professional association.