The general secretary of the Malta Union of Teachers, Joseph DeGiovanni has tendered his resignation from the post he has held for 16 years. When contacted by The Malta Independent for the reasons behind the resignation, he said it was an internal matter and did not wish to disclose more information.

The resignation letter, which was formally submitted to the MUT’s council on 16 February, was only made public yesterday through a circular to members rather than the customary MUT press release.

Mr DeGiovanni told this newspaper that the council asked him to reconsider his decision to step down but he stuck to his original decision. He said he was not resigning for personal reasons but the reason was an internal matter.

In the circular to members, the MUT said that in the best interest of all members, he would continue to occupy his post until the end of May by when he would finalise all pending issues and cases.

Mr DeGiovanni thanked all council members with whom he worked over the past 16 years and wished the present council success in its work in the best interests of all its members and the profession.

“I would like to thank all those with whom I have worked closely during my career as general secretary of the MUT, including ministers, opposition spokesmen for education, the education authorities, the Church authorities, OPM officials, colleagues in trade unionism at the national and international level and many others for their professionalism and admirable sense of dialogue that helped to resolve many issues and bring about satisfactory conclusions to some difficult negotiations. Last but not least I would like to thank the president and council of the MUT, delegates and school committee members and all the members for their support throughout the 16 years that I have had the honour to serve the MUT as general secretary,” Mr DeGiovanni said in the circular.