During a protest held in Valletta, General Workers Union (GWU) secretary general Tony Zarb warned the government yesterday against holding a meeting or signing any agreements with any other union apart from the GWU over the nursing aides’ collective agreement.

He was addressing a protest in Valletta which the GWU organised, starting off in front of its headquarters. Around 150 nursing aides – members of the GWU, carried whistles and walked down Republic Street holding up placards.

Slogans printed on the placards read “Industrial democracy is under threat”, “We are not children of a lesser god”, or “We are ready for everything” and “GWU represents 70 per cent of nursing aides.”

The GWU is asking to be given recognition by the government as it represents the majority of the workers in question.

The nursing aides, led by Mr Zarb and members of the union’s section which represents the workers, walked down Republic Street and stopped at the corner next to the House of Representatives.

Mr Zarb explained to the protesters that members of the union would present a letter to the Prime Minister laying down the nursing aides’ requests and conditions, so that “maybe one day he will learn that he cannot threaten industrial democracy, and finally give you what is yours by right”.

He added that, yesterday morning, a cabinet meeting was being held and that they should know why the nursing aides were protesting.

The protesters then walked back up Republic Street and stopped in front of Castille.

Mr Zarb told the nursing aides that the government’s actions were a direct threat to industrial democracy and that if it still took this course then the government would be challenging Malta and other countries.

“The GWU will inform international unions, such as the International Labour Organisation, about the negative attitude the government has towards the GWU,” he said.

On the issue regarding nursing aides, the prime minister had to negotiate with the union that has the highest majority of members, i.e. the GWU, he added.

Mr Zarb referred to comments made by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi when he said that he had signed agreements with all those involved in the health sector.

“Dr Gonzi spoke to the unions of doctors, nurses and paramedics to discuss their agreements – rightly so. So what is stopping him from speaking to us?” Mr Zarb wondered.

He went on to say that the government did not believe in the will of the majority and was being anti-democratic.

“The prime minister stated that historic agreements were made with all those of the health sector. However, for this to truly take place, he has to make an agreement with us,” said Mr Zarb.

“This does not only concern the section responsible for nursing aides but has become the concern of the whole union,” he said.

Mr Zarb said the union was ready to meet with the government as long as a serious discussion took place and a conclusion was reached.

He warned the government against holding meetings or taking any decisions on the issue with any other union.

“The government has only one road – it has to speak to us on the issue,” he said.

Mr Zarb called on members to follow the directives issued on the matter.

He then presented the letter to a member from the Office of the Prime Minister, and later on presented it to Opposition Leader Alfred Sant at the Malta Labour Party headquarters.

In a statement, the government argued that it could negotiate with all unions over the issue of working conditions for nursing aides after, last week, a court overruled the request for a warrant of prohibitory injunction filed by the GWU.

The union had filed the warrant requesting the court to rule that the government could only hold negotiations with the GWU.

The statement said that since the GWU retracted the directives for industrial action on 1 November, negotiations with the unions could take place.

On 3 November, government delegations held separate meetings with the GWU and the Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) and noted what their requests and positions were.

The statement said that the GWU had four requests in one package – new roster, improvement in premium and allowance for all workers, Scale 13 pay extended to all nursing aides and acknowledgment of the GWU as the majority union for nursing aides.

It added that an agreement had to be reached with the GWU by 4 November.

The UHM had three requests, Scale 13 for nursing aides, new roster and an improvement in premium and allowance.

The statement said that the unions had to inform the government of any positive developments.

On 4 November, in the evening, the government sent separate letters to the GWU and UHM.

In the letter, the government made it clear that while keeping to the procedure of discussing with all the unions involved, it was ready to continue discussions to reach an agreement on the other three requests.

The statement said that the GWU’s reaction was not ready to change its position, as could be seen in a verbal statement that says “while the GWU appreciates the government’s step, the GWU believes that it is too little”.

The verbal statement went on to say that “the GWU believes so, because the industrial disagreement between the union and the government is about four requests combined in one. The GWU states that, “if by Monday, 5 November 2007 at 10am, we will not have a favourable reply on all issues, especially on the acknowledgment of the GWU as the main union, and the agreement is not signed by 11am, then the GWU plan for this issue will go on as planned.”

However, the government stated that following correspondence between the Health Division and the UHM, a meeting was set up yesterday afternoon to continue the discussions.