The chairman and members of the Industrial Tribunal have written to the President and Prime Minister to ask for “protection, help and assistance” after being personally identified in a recent court case filed by the Union of Professional Educators. 

The letter was sent after a constitutional application was filed by the union challenging the tribunal’s decision denying it the right to represent learning support educators (LSEs) and assist its members in collective bargaining procedures. 

The UPE had taken the matter to court arguing that a decision taken by the tribunal went against right of representation. This had taken place after the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations had ruled that the union represented the majority of LSEs in State employment, but this particular category could not be considered as a “separate bargaining unit”.

The union’s lawyers, Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini Cachia, argued that since all three tribunal members were appointed by government entities and held other public officers, they were not independent or impartial.

The three members of the tribunal, chairman Harold Walls and members Bryony Bartolo and Lawrence Mizzi, expressed concern about what they described as a “surprise attack” which “personally” targeted them.

In their letter, which was also sent to the parliamentary secretary for social dialogue, the three members rejected the claims that they lacked independence or impartiality.

“In this particular case, we declare that we always exercised our function throughout the proceedings in an independent, impartial and integral manner.” 

There had been no reason for them to abstain from the case, and at no point during the case had the union sought their recusal. 

They argued that it is unacceptable that whenever a party disagreed with a decision by the tribunal, its members are personally targeted. No judge or magistrate are personally sued for decisions they take in court, and the same should apply to members of a tribunal.

Faced with such “surprise” and direct “attack” the tribunal members turned to the authorities for “protection, help and assistance” throughout the entire proceedings filed by the Union.