The offer before the Malta Union of Teachers is the best collective agreement that educators have ever had in this country’s history, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on the campaign trail on Monday.

Abela spoke of the current impasse between the government and the Malta Union of Teachers, wherein the latter has set Friday as an ultimatum for an agreement to be reached on the new and long in the pipeline collective agreement.

On the Malta Employer’s Association to cease collective bargaining during an electoral campaign, Abela said that he can see the sense behind such a proposal but noted that rather than stopping talks they should be done with more responsibility.

He said that he understands the position of the MUT, and said that the offer on the table for teachers is “the best collective agreement they have ever had.”

Abela continued that the PL was taking this path because it believed in the massive contribution that teachers give to children and their education, and because there is a clear promise in the electoral manifesto for a substantial increase in salaries which the government is determined to implement.

He said that he wanted to clarify three misconceptions about the current negotiations. Firstly, he said, the salary for all educators – irrespective of whether they started working now or have been working for many years – will be increased.

Secondly, he said that it is not true that the salary increase will be pegged to more working hours, additional duties, or more workload.  Finally, he continued, it is not true that for one to benefit from these salary increases, one must have a Masters degree.

Abela said that an agreement is “very close” and said that he believes that it can be reached in a matter of days.

However, he appealed for it to not be children who suffer during the negotiation process, noting the example of a woman who he said told him of her daughter who had studied for her MCAST exams only to be told when she arrived that they would not be held.

He also said that the MUT should be factual with its members, otherwise it would publish the offer which is on the table.

Abela was also asked about the fact that the PN are yet to publish an electoral manifesto, saying that this lack of proposals is being done on purpose.

He cited what he said was the PN’s strategy on energy, noting that while the PL was giving incentives to keep energy prices stable and making up for Malta’s natural disadvantages, the PN has already expressed itself against this and allowing the foreign market to dictate prices even if it means that they will increase.

He said that the PN’s two MEPs – Roberta Metsola and David Casa, who he did not mention by name – care only about sustaining their own careers, which means that “bow their heads to what Brussels says.”

When the EU will tell Malta that it cannot sustain the energy assistance, the PN MPs will not explain Malta’s realities, but they will agree with them.

“It doesn’t pay them to be the voice of the people, because the people’s interests and their career’s interest diverge,” Abela said.