The Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) has filed an industrial dispute against the government after today’s record-breaking 510 positive cases were recorded.

In a statement, the MUT said that the UK variant is an ever-growing threat for children in schools.

“It has been confirmed by the [health] authorities that children are getting and transmitting the variant. For the time being, the risks on the health and security of educators, all of those who work in schools and families are growing and the government needs to take responsibility for its decisions”, it said.

The MUT also said that while teachers are indeed being vaccinated, the vaccination roll-out process for educators has been slow.

“The process is still behind and one cannot close an eye when there are still a large amount of workers in schools who still haven’t even received an appointment. Apart from this, we know from experts that, until we reach herd immunity, the virus will continue to be transmitted in the community and every possible measure needs to be taken by the government to curb the pandemic”.

The union expected that, with the growing number of cases, they would move completely toward teleworking. The sentiment was also echoed by the Minister for Education Justyne Caruana, it said.

“The number of new daily cases has been increasing every day and it is clear that there is no control over the situation. This was confirmed by the decision of the Minister of Education when she gave her approval, in those days, for some schools to go completely online. The MUT always insisted to wait for schools to move together, as an educational sector and as a national entity”.

A move to exclusive online teaching, however, never materialized, despite the MUT’s wishes.

“Schools are already at their limits when one considers that there are an ever-growing amount of positive cases of the virus, more educators, students and whole families in quarantine and educators suffering from the effects of the vaccine. Because of this, the service in schools is approaching an unsustainable condition”, it said.

As a result, the MUT has registered an industrial dispute to make their needs known.

“The MUT is registering an industrial dispute and, later, will meet with the government to make its position clear. Later this evening, the MUT council will also gather to continue discussing the situation and taking the necessary steps”, it said.

The MUT also thanked all health care workers for their hard work and said that “it is the duty of the government to take the necessary decisions to help them too”.

The union also thanked all educators and school workers for their hard work during this challenging time.