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Wardens not issuing traffic fines or towing cars to protest work conditions

Wardens not issuing traffic fines or towing cars to protest work conditions
Jun 21 2022 Share

Wardens are protesting their working conditions and demanding better salaries by not issuing traffic fines or towing away illegally parked cars. Some are also not showing up to reported road accidents. 

Following the General Workers’ Union issuing a directive over the weekend, LESA officials also started to show up to work without a uniform. Times of Malta was informed by a warden that wardens are still pulling people over to explain to them that they are breaking the law.

However, they are not fining people doing so, including people using their phone or parking on double yellow lines. Since the GWU said talks with he agency over a new agreement failed, all LESA wardens, who are members of the GWU, have been given these new directives. 

The agency said that it is still important to continue honouring policing duties by drawing attention to those caught breaking the law. With around 60 collisions reported to LESA daily, officers are also taking longer to attend to accident sites, and that only one out of six are attending to them. 

The union is insisting that the wardens’ salaries should match prison and detention centre wardens’ salaries. It is also asking for more robust measures to protect warden safety. 

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Local nurses wear black as union taken to court over lack of staff directives

Local nurses wear black as union taken to court over lack of staff directives
Jun 21 2022 Share

Some 4,000 nurses from several Maltese health services and homes for the elderly have started wearing black T-shirts to mourn their union being taken to court over directives to address shortage of staff. 

According to the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses’ president Paul Pace, the nurses are wearing black because Malta is ‘the only European country where a union is taken to court for protesting over staff shortages.’

Speaking with Times of Malta, Pace said that instead of finding help from the Health Ministry, the union was given a lawsuit for speaking out in favour of the rights of nurses. 

The nurses’ union was provisionally blocked by a judge last week from continuing industrial action across the entire health service after upholding an application for an injunction filed by health authorities. 

A request for a prohibitory injunction filed by the health ministry was upheld by Mr Justice Ian Spiteri Bailey, ordering the union to stop its action until the case is heard on June 27th. Suspending the action, the union told the nurses to wear black instead of the usual uniform to mourn their profession and to protest at the inaction by authorities. 

The directives issued by the union included not admitting patients to particular wards and a home for the elderly, taking a two-hour break each day at operating theatres and limiting the hours in which nurses could dress wounds. Health authorities refused the pension call and refused the request for nurses’ and midwives’ overtime to be taxed at 10%. 

Pace revealed that 500 nurses left the profession last year. Many were foreign health workers leaving Malta after being offered much better conditions in other countries. Pace said that the directives were not aimed at impacting patients but to highlight the struggles nurses are facing. 

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Photo Source: Paul Pace FB

Farsons Beer Festival is back for a 2022 40th edition!

Farsons Beer Festival is back for a 2022 40th edition!
Jun 21 2022 Share

After two years of ending up cancelled due to the COVD-19 pandemic, the beloved Farsons Beer Festival will be back for its 40th edition. 

With around 10 days of non-stop music, the 40th edition of the festival will be taking place in the Ta’ Qali Picnic Area between the 28th of July and 6th of August 2022. 

With free entrance for anyone wishing to attend, guests will be treated to some long-awaited good vibes, all enjoyed with a glass of cool mouth-watering beer. 

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Transport Minister pledges new policy for small land reclamation projects

Transport Minister pledges new policy for small land reclamation projects
Jun 21 2022 Share

Speaking on Pjazza, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia has pledged to publish a new policy which will aid businesses in reclaiming small amounts of land from the sea. 

Farrugia cited the new AquaLuna lido in Gzira as one of the successful land reclamation projects. Malta however seemingly stopped moving in this direction, he said, ever since the days of former PM Dom Mintoff. 

Farrugia also said that Malta will be working on some larger land reclamation projects within the next five years. He described the drive as a ‘thirst’ from the government and private sector. 

The Minister revealed, without providing any details, that the government is currently carrying out a study to build on what is currently there. 

#MaltaDaily