At the end of summer, the Education Ministry and representatives of independent schools, through the Independent Schools Association, announced an agreement whereby the Government committed to cover arrears of all independent school educators from 1 January 2023 in line with the arrears issued to educators employed by State and Church schools. This followed the signing of the new sectoral agreement for educators by the MUT and the Government in July 2024.

Details about the government-independent schools agreement were available some weeks later and consisted in the reimbursement of educator's arrears for two years until December 2024 and the government's increase in the annual grant per student provided to independent schools. To avoid excessive financial burden on parents, the agreement included a capping on the percentage increase of fees issued to parents/guardians by independent schools to cover salary increases from January 2024. This agreement was carried out to enable independent schools to provide (at least) the salaries and allowances of educators in state and church schools. According to information available, the majority of schools raised the fees in line and (almost) up to the stipulated percentage capping.

We are six months in this scholastic year and to date no independent school has yet matched the salaries and allowances of State and Church educators. Arrears for the two-year period until December 2024 were issued to educators in the majority of cases and the rest are being processed. There is however an exception. The government has been paying the salaries and allowances of all Learning Support Educators in independent schools for a number of years. Although some LSEs may not have received the adjusted salaries and allowances to-date, adjustments are due and need to be issued. With LSEs in independent schools receiving the same salaries and allowances of their colleagues in State and Church schools, the question remains whether teachers, kindergarten educators and other education personnel in schools will have their allowances and salaries raised in line with their colleagues.

Since teachers, kindergarten educators and other educator grades are borne by the school, it is the school that needs to address this situation through respective collective agreements. The MUT is currently involved in negotiations with a number of independent schools and negotiations with other schools shall start shortly. The financial aspect involving (at least) matching the sectoral agreement should be a straight forward exercise given the increase in fees and the government grant. Negotiations will then focus on conditions of work and should not take long to conclude. Yet there are indicators that independent schools may not be willing to (at least) match the salaries and allowances of the sectoral agreement. This would mean that rather than being plain sailing, negotiations may turn into actions by the MUT to ensure that educators get what they deserve and are not short-changed by their employers.

Whilst a decision regarding trade union actions is premature, it shall depend on the negotiations with the respective Independent schools and their matching (or otherwise) of the sectoral agreement financials. Feedback received from educators is amply clear. Educators want nothing less, in terms of financials, than their colleagues in State and Church schools. They will not accept to be second-class educators and this is very understandable. Neither the MUT as their recognised union will ever accept that.

Marco Bonnici is President of the Malta Union of Teachers