The Malta Union of Midwives & Nurses  has postponed its industrial action after discussions between the union and the government were moved to Monday, a MUMN spokesperson told The Malta Independent.

MUMN had informed authorities that a strike would take place from 15 December onwards after the union said they were 'disgusted' that no response from the authorities was received after a meeting took place three weeks ago regarding social workers and ECG technicians to conclude the sectoral agreements.

"It is clear that the MUMN is being ignored, and this union will not accept this situation" General Secretary Colin Galea said.

The trade union also accused the authorities of failing to appreciate the professional work done by the two categories of workers who, it said, often went beyond the call of duty to care for the sick.

The union claims that no manner of reply or even acknowledgement of a letter it sent the directorate on December 6th has been received to date.

This is the second time the nurses’ union had called for industrial action in a matter of days.

The nurses’ union  has already had one proposed industrial action resolved after the health ministry assured it that the call for applications for charge nurses, midwives, retired nurses, and physiotherapists would be published during this week and the next, the spokesperson person informed this newsroom.

In an open letter to the health ministry’s permanent secretary Joseph Rapa, MUMN questioned why the Health Department had not yet published calls for applications after applicants were informed last month via SMS that the results were available on the health ministry’s notice board, but were later informed to ignore the message.