A court has rejected a prohibitory injuction filed by St. Albert the Great College with the intention of stopping the Malta Union of Teachers from issuing directives to its members at the school.

In a statement, the MUT said that it had been proven that the union does have the right to protect its members through industrial actions.

The decree was handed down by Judge Joanne Vella Cuschieri on Monday.

The injuction had been filed by the Rector of the St. Albert the Great College against the union after it issued directives when the college sacked its headmaster Mario Mallia – an action which prompted major backlash and legal action against the college.

“The arm-twisting attempt by the St Albert the Great Rector failed and the union shall continue to make the necessary pressures so that the college does not continue to be run with sheer incompetence,” the MUT said in its statement.

The union said that it is in communication with the Education Ministry and the Secretariat for Catholic Education “to act firmly and to intervene to stop the haemorrhage of educators leaving the college due to the Rector attempting to dismantle all the work which has been carried out by the school.”

The MUT said that the Rector and College Board should resign or be removed from office “since the current oppressive attitudes and leadership is having severe effects on teaching and learning and thus student entitlement to education.”

“The college can only function if all educators including the remaining school management are allowed to operate,” the union said.

The MUT was represented by lawyers Keith Borg and Rebecca Mercieca.

The saga concerning the college has been ongoing since earlier this summer, when the head of school Mario Mallia was sacked and accused by the Dominican Order, which runs the school, of “usurping the school property” by allowing it to be used as a voting station and for “aggravated insubordination.”

The sacking prompted backlash, and a number of key members of staff have since also left the college.

Earlier in the day, parents and guardians of the college’s students wrote to the Education Minister Clifton Grima requesting his immediate intervention at the school because students are losing out on their education.