Directives ordered by the Malta Union of Teachers in the run up to a one-day strike have taken effect starting this Monday morning.
These directives have been enacted ahead of a planned educators’ strike on the 27th of November and are set to remain in place at least until the day of the strike. These calls came to fruition following what MUT President Marco Bonnici described as failed discussions regarding improved salaries and working conditions for educators which the Labour Party had promised would be part of their objectives leading up to the 2022 general election.
The MUT said that it made the call for industrial action after the government had cancelled two scheduled meetings regarding the agreement’s finances without providing any proposals. It said that the negotiations have been ongoing since December of 2022 and that this should have been “enough time for the government to deliver what it promised”.
The planned 27th November strike and the issued directives are for both State and Church school educators.
The list of directives issued by the MUT is as follows:
- All educators are to refrain from doing work or communication related to audits/reviews
- All educators are to refrain from doing work related to international studies
- No work and participation in subject meetings and meetings organised during curriculum time or non-contact time and IEP meetings.
- No participation in school committees
- Educators are not to organise and attend seminars/conferences/COPE organised by the central management (Directorates/College/Church Secretariat/IFE/agencies/entities)
- Educators are not to act upon all external communication received by the central management (Directorates/College/Church Secretariat/IFE/agencies/entities)
- All educators are to refrain from presenting schemes of work or planning materials
- No external communication to be carried out through VLEs (teams, MySchool etc)
- Educators are not to submit annual examination papers
- No parents’ days and meetings with parents are to be held
- No work to be carried out on assessments
- Educators are not to submit student attendance in any form
- No use of the communication book
In addition, the MUT added that any work not carried out during the period of these directives is not to be carried out at a later date.
The Union of Professional Educators has said that it does not support the planned strike nor the issued directives of the MUT and that the UPE members will continue carrying out their work.
UPE Executive Head Graham Sansone has said that the union will be issuing its own directives on the day of the planned strike “to ensure that educators present at school will not be overwhelmed”.