Education Minister Evarist Bartolo has withdrawn the controversial Education Bill in a formal letter to the Parliamentary Speaker Anglu Farrugia ahead of the proposed MUT strike this coming Monday.

“This is the first time this has ever happened in parliamentary history,” Bartolo said highlighting the government's willingness to reach a compromise with the MUT.

Speaking to the press at a meeting within the ministry, Bartolo said that MUT President Marco Bonnici has been informed of the decision, in what the minister described as a final appeal to stop the strike going forward.

He revealed that MUT made it clear that this was their demand,  and that the ministry’s offer to withdraw the bill in a meeting earlier today did not persuade the union to go back on its decision.

Bartolo appealed for calm and condemned any negative comments directed towards educators on social media.

“The government will respect and defend educators whether or not they decide to strike,” Bartolo said.

Asked by The Malta Independent as to what the government's plan was moving forward, Bartolo said that the ministry will invite the MUT to discuss what can be improved in the bill, adding that he will involve the union and their legal representatives should the bill ever reach the committee stage.

The Minister also assured that regardless of MUT’s reaction to the decision, the government will ensure everything runs smoothly come Monday.

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Earlier, the MUT said the strike would be held as planned after a last-ditch conciliation meeting failed.

The MUT walked out of talks after Prime Minister Muscat said the government was ready to withdraw the amendments to the Education Act as proposed if the MUT called off its strike directive.

But MUT president Marco Bonnici said this was an attempt to put the MUT with its back to the wall. The PM’s comments were made while a conciliatory meeting was being held between the MUT and the Ministry for Education. The MUT walked out of the meeting when it was informed about the PM’s words.

Bonnici said the MUT had left discussions with the Ministry of Education in protest against the fact that what was being said behind closed doors had been disclosed to the media.

In a statement in the afternoon, the MUT said it attended a conciliation meeting this morning, as required by law, during which details of this same meeting were disclosed while it was still taking place. The way the whole process was undermined this morning is symptomatic of the way the MUT and other stakeholders are being treated in order for the ministry to get whatever it wants, either by stealth or through an impressive spin machine which is trying to put the rest of society against educators.

The MUT, on behalf of its members, said it will never accept this state of play as it is only legitimately protesting against things which are crucial for an education system to work properly. The only result of these tactics is the increase in the disappointment of educators, which was shown today in schools where educators wore something black and changed their social media profiles to the one provided by the MUT: a symbolic measure to portray the message that business is not as usual.

Furthermore, educators are not reassured by claims that the situation that developed regarding the education act is due to a misinterpretation of a particular clause as repeated by the Government. It is particularly insulting to hear such remarks when new clauses included in the act clearly and unequivocally mess with the professional status of educators achieved in 1988. The MUT listed, earlier this week, a number of highly objectionable principles found in the tabled bills and the Ministry still fails to explain the reasons behind them.

In view of and following all this, the MUT Council held an ad-hoc meeting this afternoon and decided the following:

- the MUT is not protesting just the current abominable proposed law but the way the whole saga developed, with three bills to replace the Education Act which no one had seen prior to being presented in Parliament;

- this industrial action is the culmination of many disappointments, including the negation and then minimisation of what the MUT has been saying since discovering the bills tabled in Parliament;

- respect is shown through actions and not through empty rhetoric – these events have shown the lack of respect towards educators and Monday's action is being taken to safeguard the profession and the quality of education of all students;

- the MUT is still expecting the Government to withdraw the 3 education bills presented in Parliament;

- the MUT is confirming the one-day strike. All educators in State, Church and Independent schools including Post-secondary and Tertiary institutions are being directed not to report to work on Monday 8th October 2018. This includes all educators working in services, centres, departments and directorates. A set of industrial actions will also be issued following the strike. All members and non-members of the MUT are being covered by the Union during the strike action.

- last but not least, the MUT appeals to educators follow the industrial action to safeguard their professions

MUT from The Malta Independent on Vimeo.

In a press conference in the morning, after the MUT walk-out, Minister for Education Evarist Bartolo said that he was ready to "go back to the drawing board" on the proposed acts in a willingness to gain an understanding and avoid further problems within the education sector.

Bartolo said that he did not blame the teachers for their reaction to the news, but reminded that the proposed law - contrary to what was being claimed - does not remove any warrants, does not implement yearly tests on anyone and does not include any measures regarding years of practice required to work as an LSC.

Asked about the MUT's decision to walk out of discussions after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat shared what was being said behind closed doors, Bartolo defended Muscat, saying "if the government held this position and the Prime Minister was asked about it, how else can he answer?  How can he not speak about the government's position?"

Bartolo also expressed his disgust at those who were attacking and insulting teachers for how the situation pertaining to the Education Act had developed.  He said it was society's duty to support what educators do within schools, and that anybody who thought that being a teacher was an easy job was completely mistaken and had no idea what it truly means to be an educator.

What sparked the MUT's reaction were comments given by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who said that the government is prepared to withdraw the amendments to the Education Act on condition that the MUT withdrew its strike directive.

Speaking in Fgura, Muscat said the two sides would then need to sit down together and find a way forward.

Muscat said he is pleased that the MUT agreed to have a conciliation meeting. In good faith, the government offered to suspend or withdraw the amendments in order to avoid the strike on Monday and to sit down and iron out and reservations MUT has which weren't aired in the original consultation period, regarding their interpretation of the warrants. Muscat insisted that the government has no intention to withdraw warrants, as the MUT is saying.

He said that the strike would affect students and expressed his hope that in the coming hours, the strike will be withdrawn. He also said that he hopes that in terms of industrial action, it doesn't become a question as to who is banging their fists louder in order to take members from another union. He said he was not referring to this issue specifically but was speaking in general.

The Prime Minister said that the Act does not mean that warrants would be withdrawn, as the MUT believes. He said that consultation had been held on the law, and that MUT was consulted and at no time during that consultation was this point raised by the teachers' union.

The MUT ordered a one-day strike set for Monday following objections to amendments to the Education Act, which according to the MUT will signify the withdrawal of teachers' permanent warrant and their replacement with temporary ones, which teachers would have to renew every few years. The government says this is not the case.

The MUT instructed teachers to wear black today, World Teachers Day, to send a message to the government that the teachers' profession is being murdered by the amendments.

The UPE - Voice of The Workers meanwhile said that they would continue to support Monday's strike after today's developments.  The union called on the Prime Minister to "not use arm twisting tactics in which he states that the Union should stop Mondays Strike before he revokes the Education Act Bill."

"On the contrary the Prime Minister should set an example by first revoking the bill proposed by the state itself and only than could Unions decide to retrieve the strike", the Union said in a brief statement.

Photos/Videos: Michael Camilleri