The term of the MUT Council shall be concluded this month and a new four-year term shall commence in January. The current council was elected in mid-2020. I shall outline some of the work carried out during this term whilst giving an insight of the work to be carried out in the new one.

At the start of the term, we were still struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic. There were important decisions to be taken including the re-opening of schools during the same year. This was an important element of the return to 'normality' which was essential during the time. There were challenges, especially with regards to the mitigating measures and procedures enacted in schools but we managed to overcome them. The same pandemic measures remained in force for several months and they were tolling on educators, students and schools.

The MUT Council met 86 times during this term. Very often discussions and decisions taken were very important to establish the direction of the union but also that of the educational system. The most intensive discussions involved negotiations of new agreements. There were a number of agreements being negotiated during the term which included MUT's largest agreement- the Sectoral. The Sectoral agreement started to be negotiated in December 2022, upon its expiry. The process involved the gathering of feedback from members, information meetings, working-group meetings, negotiations meetings and eventually the presentation of the agreement to members prior to the vote. I am very satisfied with the process and with the overwhelming vote in July 2024 in favour of the new Sectoral agreement which is now in its implementation phase.

During this term the MUT had ongoing industrial actions. These were issued specifically due to ongoing negotiations or to safeguard members from changes in practices which found no agreement with the Union. Industrial actions were held in State and Church Schools, at MCAST (still ongoing), at ITS, at IFE and at Student Services.  The major industrial action was the one-day strike in November 2023 in all State and Church Schools. This saw the participation of the absolute majority of educators and enabled the union to continue to strengthen its position in negotiations and to conclude them to the satisfaction of members. Similarly, industrial actions enabled the conclusion of the agreement on Student Services and IFE whilst the union concluded also the agreement of the University of Malta Junior College.

The work with members is at the centre of the MUT. The membership base during this period exceeded 10,400 members. The union assisted thousands of members during this term and assistance ranged from individual support to collective representation. The union introduced also the service of a psycho-therapist during this term to assist members who were referred to the service and requested the assistance. Other assistance was provided by the MUT legal team. In some cases professionals worked together to assist members. This work was also possible through regular meetings with employers and representations on behalf of members.

The union continued to extend its services during the term. It opened a new office in Victoria, Gozo to offer extended support in the sister island. Works at the Hamrun offices continued with extensions to the current premises.  During the next term the Union shall have eight commercial units to support its operations and the assistance to members. This is being done whilst upgrading the it systems and infrastructure of the MUT.

The professional work of the MUT was strengthened through Fondazzjoni Saghtar which started its operations during the term. The foundation digitized the past editions of the popular Saghtar magazine and re issued the magazine with a fresh format. The foundation issued a new publication entitled Saghtarin, an activity book for the younger ones. This was done whilst working on new publications and projects. Fondazzjoni Saghtar is establishing itself as a leading educational organisation which promotes the Maltese language and shall be extending its operations during the next term with training and research.

This is only a short list of the work of the Union and the prospective work to be carried out in the new term. I would like to thank Officials, Council, staff and members for the work carried out and the support whilst renewing the commitment to pursue the work of the MUT in the next term. 

Marco Bonnici is President of the Malta Union of Teachers