Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/734031
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 OCTOBER 2016 8 News Schembri in no rush to see GWU's abusive lease challenged MATTHEW VELLA THE parliamentary secretary for lands appears to be in no rush to heed a recommendation by the Auditor General, on a gross breach of condi- tions by the General Workers Union on an emphyteutical contract for government land it uses. In October 2015, the National Au- dit Office recommended legal action after the GWU abusively sub-leased space in its Valletta headquarters – which it built on public land granted to it in 1957 – to the government company ARMS, the billing compa- ny servicing Enemalta and the Water Services Corporation. The GWU was prohibited from sub-leasing its offices to ARMS with- out the former holding a 51% share- holding in the company – a specific condition in the 1957 agreement for the grant of its Valletta land. The un- ion even rented out space to compa- nies it did not own, namely to the op- erators of the Sciacca Grill restaurant and to Vjaggi Untours – also a union subsidiary but which is 60% owned by the Orange Travel Group. The NAO said that the Govern- ment Property Division should in- stitute legal action against the GWU for breaching conditions set out in its emphyteutical contract. But lands parliamentary secretary Deborah Schembri, who has just pi- loted a reform of the GPD which will now become the Lands Authority, has stated that no decision has yet been taken on any legal action. "The matter involves complex legal issues about which there are conflict- ing legal opinions. It may also have repercussions, the effect of which go beyond the particular building. The matter is being studied holistically and a decision has not as yet been taken," she told MaltaToday. In reality, the Attorney General has already informed the NAO that the conditions of the GWU's 1957 agree- ment are binding. But when the NAO investigation started in February 2015, it turned out that the GWU had been busy obtaining the blessing of the political establishment to redeem its ground rent and render its Valletta property freehold – ostensibly so that it could be freed of the obligations of the 1957 agreement. In May 2015 – when the investiga- tion was still ongoing – the union re- deemed the annual €801 ground rent by paying the GPD a total of €16,026, rendering the property freehold. And this is where the NAO believes that the government should kick- start legal action, because the union now claims the 1957 lease and a 1997 amendment are obsolete. The At- torney General disagrees, saying the conditions of these agreements are still valid. The GWU had already been se- lected by ARMS in 2014 from five different bidders offering office space, with the lowest offer at €61,950 rent annually. But it transpires that the se- lection was made verbally: no docu- mentation was provided by ARMS as to what action was proposed on the bids, save for the architect's plans submitted for the GWU bid; and the GWU deputy secretary-general con- firmed he was notified verbally in April 2014 of the successful bid. The company secretary for ARMS is lawyer Aron Mifsud Bonnici, who himself has served as a legal consult- ant for the General Workers Union and its newspapers, prior to Labour's election to power in 2013. Since then, Mifsud Bonnici has been appointed by minister with- out portfolio Konrad Mizzi – under whose purview ARMS fell back in 2015 – as company secretary for En- emalta plc, subsidiaries Engineering Resources Limited, Energy Services Centre Limited, International Clean Energy Limited, International Energy Service Centre Limited, and MPG Energy Services Ltd, as well as the energy ministry's special investment arm Projects Malta Ltd. Mifsud Bonnici still acts as com- pany secretary for the GWU's com- panies GWU Holdings, Inews Malta, Union Print and Untours Insurance Agency. Nurses launch industrial action at Emergency department MIRIAM DALLI THE Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses yesterday launched an in- dustrial action at Mater Dei Hospi- tal over the shortage of senior nurs- es at the Emergency department. Speaking to MaltaToday, MUMN general secretary Colin Galea said the situation was sparking fear of unsafe practices as work that should be carried out by senior nurses was being carried out by junior staff. "The Emergency department needs at least 14 senior nurses dur- ing the day and 11 senior nurses during the night. But the shortage in the current staff complement is see- ing junior nurses taking over some of the work. The fact that they are not certified to work alone is lead- ing to unsafe practices," Galea said. The Emergency department em- ploys a system of junior and sen- ior nurses, with the trained nurses helping in the training of the jun- iors. As per EU standards, nurses at the Emergency department are required to undergo two years of training, after which they are certi- fied as "able to work alone". The training would see the junior nurses covering different modules, including accompanying paramed- ics on the ambulance and work in the control room, among others. The current number of senior nurses stands at eight and 10, de- pending on the number of nurses on leave and sick leave. The short- age means that a junior nurse is now replacing a senior nurse. The directive issued by the MUMN calls on nurses not to carry out the triage – the system used by the hospital to determine the de- gree of urgency of a patient. Any patient admitted to the hos- pital will be cared for, but they will not be immediately assessed by a nurse. "This will allow the senior nurses to concentrate on the floor work," Galea added. He insisted that such industrial action was required after months of discussions with the Health Min- istry failed. "We can't risk working under unsafe practices: it's bad for both patients and nurses." During a radio interview earlier this week, Health Minister Chris Fearne said that, as from Monday, 125 new nurses will be joining the Health Department, seven of whom are nurses returning to the pro- fession. He also said that 11 new nurses were engaged during the summer. Galea pointed out that a lot of the training is carried out by senior nurses: "But how can they provide the training if they are swamped with work? The hospital needs to increase the number of nurses who can train the juniors." In a reaction, shadow health min- ister Claudette Buttigieg accused the government of creating the problem "with its wrong priorities". "The industrial action confirms that, instead of working to strength- en the healthcare services, the gov- ernment is focusing on the wrong priorities. The problems in the Emergency department are con- stant and the government is doing nothing to address them," she said. The GWU was prohibited from sub- leasing its offices to ARMS without the former holding a 51% shareholding in the company – a specific condition in the 1957 agreement for the grant of its Valletta land