MUT suspends industrial action for one week; MCAST student body pushes for permanent solution

Industrial action on behalf of teachers represented by the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) is currently suspended for a week while intensive discussions between the union and MCAST management commence.

The MUT had instructed its workers to carry out a series of directives relating to industrial action after MCAST, the union said, had failed to meet deadlines in relation to an expired collective agreement.

On 4 December, teachers were instructed not to make contact with students outside of lecture hours, meaning any extra help needed by the students would not be seen to.

Some students had also reported that they were unable to access their Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), a portal where lecture notes and material are ported. MUT disputed that it had instructed its teachers to take notes and material offline.

MUT had declared a dispute on 28 November 2017 and proceeded to issue the list of directives on 29 November which were to come in effect on 4 December. The MUT said that MCAST only agreed to a meeting 12 days after the dispute was registered, and after no agreement was reached, a conciliation meeting between the two sides took place yesterday.

In a press release issued yesterday afternoon, the MUT said that at a meeting presided over by the director of work and industrial relations, it was decided that industrial action would be suspended for one week and in the meantime intensive discussions would be taking place. MCAST and MUT hope to reach an agreement by the end of the seven-day time-frame.

The dispute relates to pending issues on financial estimates for a new collective agreement. The previous one expired in December 2016.

A statement issued by the MCAST Student Council said that a permanent solution should be reached rather than a temporary one.

“Whilst understanding the situation of lecturers and MCAST administration and that this move was one in the right direction, one week is not enough to rectify the problems caused within the last month of industrial action.

“We urge both MCAST and MUT to reach conclusions on their disputes as soon as possible and keep students concerns high on their agenda,” the statement said.