Teachers will not be getting any increase to their basic pay as they remain on the same pay scale, but will instead see their income increase through the improvement of allowances that they receive during the year, The Malta Independent can reveal.

Educators were presented with the details of the new collective agreement that is being proposed by the government on Thursday evening, in a meeting hosted by the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) at the De La Salle Gymnasium.

The MUT and the government agreed on the new collective agreement last Friday after protracted talks which at times became so on edge that educators felt constrained into calling a nationwide one-day strike.

According to the presentation, seen by The Malta Independent, the proposed new collective agreement does not envision any increases to a teacher’s basic pay as it will remain pegged to the same government salary scale as today, but instead bases itself on increases to allowances that teachers receive.

Educators all receive a Class Allowance with every pay slip, and a Work Resources Allowance every three months.  The proposal sees the cumulative total for these allowances double in the short-term, and more than triple by 2027, when the collective agreement would be up for re-negotiation.

A new yearly allowance for teachers who have worked for over 20 years would also be introduced, while a new position – that of Senior Teacher – would be created.  The time required for teachers to move up the pay scales would also be reduced if the agreement is ratified.

The basic pay for Kindergarten Educators (KGEs), Learning Support Educators (LSEs), and Supply Teachers will improve, and so will their allowances.

The collective agreement will need to be approved by MUT members, but The Malta Independent is informed that many educators may have come away from the meeting with a bitter taste in their mouths.

What is being proposed for teachers?

To begin with, the current basic pay for teachers will not increase.  What will increase is the allowances that they receive and what will improve is how quickly they progress up the salary scales.

As things stand, a teacher’s basic salary is pegged to either Scale 9, Scale 8, or Scale 7 – the longer one works, the higher up the ladder they go.

New teachers enter at Scale 9 which, according to the Public Service, equates to a minimum basic pay of €25,589.02.  They then receive €3,000 in allowances, after which point one must deduct taxes and NI from the total.

The new agreement will see the annual allowances that a new teacher receives increase to €6,500 for this year.  This will increase to €7,000 in 2025, €7,500 in 2026, and finally €9,500 in 2027.

Teachers working higher scales will also receive increases at similar increments, while all teachers will be getting allowances backdated from 2023 as well.

A new allowance being proposed within the agreement caters to teachers who have worked for 20 years and over.  They would get a separate €2,000 annual allowance to their pay cheque as well.

What is also being improved is teacher progression – ergo, how much time one must work in order to climb the salary scales.

As things stand, teachers with an MQF 6 (undergraduate degree level) and MQF 7 (masters degree level) qualification enter the ladder at Scale 9 and must work eight years before progressing to Scale 8.  There is another 8 years then before one can progress to Scale 7, which is the highest a teacher can reach.

Under the terms of the proposal collective agreement, those timeframes will be shortened.

A teacher with a MQF 7 qualification or holding the old Bachelors of Education (Honours) degree will progress from Scale 9 to Scale 8 after just two years, while a teacher holding an MQF 6 qualification will progress after four years.

The progression from Scale 8 to Scale 7 will then be reduced from eight years to five years as part of the proposal.

This is all backdated from 1 January 2023.

Finally, the agreement is proposing the creation of a new role: the Senior Teacher.

The Senior Teacher would be part of the School sLeadership Team (SLT), and have duties which include teaching and also providing administrative and curricular support, according to the MUT’s presentation.

The post will be appointed after a call for applications for teachers who have 20 years or more experience.

They would be paid at Scale 6 – a minimum salary of €30,626.02 – and have €8,000 in allowances from this year, rising to €11,000 by 2027, together with the 20 years and over €2,000 allowance.

What is being proposed for KGEs and LSEs?

KGEs and LSEs will be getting their basic pay bumped up the salary scale ladder, according to the proposed agreement.

The entry level salary scale for a KGE and LSE is currently at Scale 15 if one is qualified with a certificate with a progression ceiling of Scale 13.  This will be bumped up to Scale 13 with a progression ceiling of Scale 11. 

The entry level for those with a diploma is Scale 12 with a ceiling of Scale 10, and this will be bumped up to an entry at Scale 11 and ceiling of Scale 9 once one has worked 20 years.

The entry level for those with a degree is Scale 10 with a ceiling of Scale 9, and this will now stand at an entry level of Scale 9 and a ceiling of Scale 8 which can be reached after five years.

The salary scales for Supply Educators meanwhile will also increase by one scale compared to where they stand today, and they too will receive increases to their allowances.

Like with teachers, the allowances for LSEs and KGEs at each scale will effectively be slightly more than double the current rates as from this year, and will have more than tripled by 2027.

They too would also receive the same €2,000 annual allowance for working 20 years or more as teachers would.

What had the government promised?

For a brief moment, it seemed like the collective agreement – or lack of an agreement – would be another element in what is turning into an increasingly dramatic electoral campaign.

A one-day, nationwide strike which saw 97% of educators take part had already been held in November, and the MUT threatened more industrial action as it declared that it did not trust the government’s Industrial Relations Unit to reach a timely conclusion on the matter.

The last collective agreement for educators expired at the start of 2023.

The MUT’s threat and setting of an ultimatum to last week for an agreement to be reached seemed to kick the pace up a few notches, and the Education Ministry and the MUT itself announced on 24 May that an agreement had been reached.

Prime Minister Robert Abela meanwhile took to the campaign trail to boast that the offer to the MUT is the best collective agreement that educators have ever had in this country’s history.

Before the agreement with the MUT had been reached, Education Minister Clifton Grima also took to the safe haven of ONE News to state that, under the terms of the proposal, a new teacher would have an annual salary of €36,000 - €10,000 more than the present day.

The MUT disputed that claim, but the two parties later came together to reach the agreement that was presented to teachers yesterday.

How much will the entry salary be for a teacher in 2024, and in 2027?

A new teacher would still begin working with a basic pay pegged at Scale 9.  This means that they would be receiving €25,589.02 per year. One must then add the proposed €6,500 allowance for 2024, which would give an overall gross income of €32,089.02.

Deduct taxes and NI, and it equates to a take-home pay of around €2,000 per month – an increase of around €250 per month based on today.

By 2027, the allowance for a new teacher would have increased to €9,500, which means that the gross income would stand at €35,089.02 – to which one would need to add the COLA increases from between now and then.

Deduct taxes and NI, and it equates to a take-home pay of around €2,200 per month.

This does not include payments for supervision, which are also now going to be improved by being worked out on the maximum of Scale 8 rather than the minimum of Scale 9.

How have educators reacted?

This is a more important question than one thinks: the proposed collective agreement needs to receive the backing of the MUT’s membership base.  Without that, it is back to the drawing board.

One teacher present when the proposed agreement was presented on Thursday night told The Malta Independent that the mood was initially jubilant, with some even clapping, but soon turned sour as people did the maths.

The Executive Head of MUT’s rival union the Union of Professional Educators (UPE) took to social media soon after the presentation finished and asked a simple question to his followers: “How are you feeling right now?”

The responses were quite clear in showing how the agreement had been received.

“Disgusted. Confused. Sad. Betrayed.  And if I can speak clearer, they treated us as rubbish,” one person commented.  “Disillusioned and disappointed.  Do they know what they are doing?!,” another wrote.

“Speechless.  They managed to break the record for the worst agreement that’s ever been made in Malta,” another person commented, not leaving anything open for interpretation.

Some suggested that LSEs would benefit most from the agreement, but the overwhelming mood amongst the over 100 comments was decidedly against the proposed agreement.