The Malta Union of Teachers will be organising a demonstration with MCAST employees in relation to the fact that the government "is not willing to continue negotiations on the MCAST Collective Agreement which expired three years ago", the union said in a statement Thursday.

The event will be on Tuesday 17 December at 9.45am, in front of the Education Ministry in Floriana.

The union ordered directives at the college last September but little progress has been registered in the ongoing dispute, with the government going as far as putting pressure on the union last week, saying that students should never become victims of industrial disputes. In reply, the MUT had said the government is responsible for the failure in negotiations and the delay in concluding the agreement, three years after it expired.  Students have held protest activities at both the Paola and Mosta campuses run by the college.

The uncertainty of the situation has been highlighted in a petition MCAST lecturers have passed on to the government, college and union as they pushed for a swift conclusion to negotiations on a new collective agreement. The petition was signed by 281 lecturers.