The Malta Union Teachers said yesterday it has ordered teachers at MCAST to hold a two-hour strike on Monday. The MUT said that it had taken this decision after it concluded that the college authorities were reluctant to start discussions on the revision of the collective agreement.

The MUT said it has not yet received a long-awaited schedule detailing when discussions on the collective agreement will be held.

The Union said that on 3 May it forwarded its proposals to MCAST, but has not received any feedback yet.

The union said it could not understand how MCAST issued applications for ICT staff and listed salaries which are different to those which present MCAST teachers are receiving.

This constitutes a blatant breach of the collective agreement, the union said. The MUT said it had called on MCAST to withdraw these applications but this was in vain.

The union said that all the teachers who adhere to the industrial action will be protected by the union, even those who are not union members.