The Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) is forcing its members who form part of the school management team into harassing members of the Union of Professional Educators (UPE) into disobeying directives issued by the union, UPE Executive Head Grahama Sansone said in a press conference on Monday.
Sansone said that there is clear collusion between the government and the MUT which has emerged after the UPE issued directives to Learning Support Educators (LSEs) over unpaid wages for certain services that they had carried out.
He said that after these directives had been issued, the MUT had issued a statement saying that the directives are illegal, implying that the union itself was not registered - an implication which Sansone said is a complete lie, as he produced the notification of registration with the Union's number - RTU 309 - on it. The Malta Employers' Association - which represents Church Schools - had also, he said, copied the MUT's statement word for word.
He said that Education Minister Evarist Bartolo had also come out and said, verbally, that the union's actions were illegal, and challenged both parties to take their assertions and the union to court, before insisting that they are ready to defend their members and their rights.
Sansone said that the MUT had in recent days sent a circular to heads of schools where they emphasised that the directives are illegal, and forced their members who are part of the school management team to harass those of the UPE into disobeying the directives.
"They are showing that they are the right hand of the ministry", Sansone said before noting that any circular sent to heads of schools needs to go through the Ministry first, questioning therefore who had approved this particular circular and whether any disciplinary action will be taken if nobody did approve it.
Sansone said that a judicial protest which the MUT said it was going file against the UPE last week is yet to arrive at their desk, and questioned whether this is nothing more than a scare tactic to force them to back down.
He said that the circular sent to heads of schools held a clear threat wherein those who followed the directives would be hauled before a board of discipline where no union can defend them. "We want to emphasise to our members that these are all lies - fake news - to scaremonger you into submission. We will keep defending you", he said.