There is no place for discussions when there are threats, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Sunday as the country gears up for a teachers’ strike on Monday.

During a Labour Party event in Marsa on Sunday, the Prime Minister said that it is not fair that for children to suffer “when there is a proposal to strongly improve the conditions of our educators."

Abela said that the proposal "is much stronger than the agreement of five years ago.”

Abela was referring to industrial action being taken by the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) which has been ongoing for the last two weeks and which will see educators across government and Church schools strike on Monday.

The action was announced after failures to reach an agreement for an improved collective agreement for educators.

The MUT had said that it made the call for industrial action after the government cancelled two scheduled meetings regarding the new collective agreement’s finances without providing any proposals.

The Prime Minister said that the government will only resume meetings after directives are suspended, adding that it still put forward very strong proposals and that at the same time “we never said we don't want to discuss further, even if reconciliation meetings don't produce the desired result."

Abela also maintained that this government not only adheres to the agreements it signs but goes beyond them.

"The unions asked us, despite the collective agreement, to provide an additional increase to reflect the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA). We did this a year ago, and we will do it again. In Parliament, the Opposition is making noise. They claim that we discriminate against government workers… even when they talk about teachers.”

Abela said that under a Nationalist government, teachers were left them with an agreement that never expired “so that they wouldn’t need to discuss salary raises.”

Abela referred to the fact that in the past week, almost 5,000 people were paid just over €8 million to make up for injustices they suffered in the past, meaning that people have receive payments for the last seven years amounting to over €40 million.

Likewise, justice must be done with school teachers, Abela said, which is why a “strong proposal” was tabled.

Referring to the locality of Marsa, Abela spoke about his dream plans for the inner circle of the Grand Harbour to become “a symbol of prosperity for the next decade.”

"A vibrant place of business, work, culture, and entertainment: That is my dream. A place where we have economic development that offers a better quality of life for everyone. To achieve this, we need to be ambitious, but we also need to believe in the potential of the area,” he said, adding that this was also tackled in the coming Budget and adheres with the PL’s electoral manifesto.

Abela also spoke about the stability in the energy prices, noting that while the Budget included the highest increase in pensions, in minimum wage, and in the children’s allowance, none of that would have made sense had electricity prices not been kept stable.

He said that the energy prices “have been stable since 2014 and that is how they are going to remain.”

Abela said that in the coming years, the government is going to invest a large, unprecedented sum of money in the energy distribution system.

Moreover, he also mentioned other projects which are in the pipeline, such as the second interconnector with Sicily and the waste to energy plant.

“We’ve launched many projects, and we still have a lot left to do. We’ve given many benefits but we want to add more. We remain committed. Because together, we are the movement of progress,” he concluded.