Mcast denies claims made by Forum and Muscat

In a statement issued yesterday, the Malta College of Art, Science and Technology (Mcast) said it never tried to undermine the right of its employees to enjoy public holidays or to avail themselves of sick leave or special leave.

Mcast was reacting to a speech by Opposition leader Joseph Muscat on Sunday during a political event in Naxxar.

Muscat was citing an article written by the president of the Forum Unions Maltin, John Bencini about jobs at Mcast and said the situation at Mcast saw teachers registered as self-employed and do not have the same benefits as other teachers.

Mcast said that the college was engaged in a continuous effort to constantly improve the working conditions of all its employees. “In turn, this ensures that MCAST students are adequately prepared for successful careers and better jobs.”

In its statement, Mcast said the Muscat had unfortunately been misguided by Bencini’s article which included incorrect allegations about Mcast.

“MCAST categorically denies that any of its lecturers were asked to give extra lessons to make up for lecturing time lost while on sick leave, or on special leave. The Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) has made several public allegations in this regard, but has never replied to MCAST’s request to substantiate these claims with specific cases,” Mcast said.

However, in a statement issued today, Bencini reiterated what was written in the article arguing that contrary to what was said by Mcast, Mcast lecturers were repeatedly requested to make up for missed lessons after applying for leave, including both sick leave or special leave.

“Mcast lecturers were also expected to make up for the lessons missed during the St Joseph public feast. An email sent to the Directors and Degree Coordinators said, ‘May I please remind you that Monday, 19 March 2012, is a Public Holiday. This means that the number of lectures which are going to be missed on that day have to be delivered during the forthcoming module period ( Monday 12 – Friday 23 March 2012).”

Mcast said that it was currently working on a project through which Mcast degree courses launched in collaboration with Fraunhofer Gescellschaft, Europe’s largest industry research organisation.

“Foreign professors and experts from Fraunhofer visit Malta whenever Mcast starts a new degree, to deliver lectures to the course’s first students, and train lecturers who would be taking over lecturing of the same programme in subsequent years through job shadowing.

“This means that should a day of lecturing be missed by a foreign professor due to holidays, a number of lecturing hours are rescheduled for the following days before the professor leaves Malta,” Mcast said.  

Lecturers were ordered by the MUT not to attend these additional sessions to make up for holidays unless they were paid extra but Mcast said that lecturers were not obliged to job shadow the extra sessions if they did not want to.

Bencini claimed that several lecturers employed with Mcast on a part-time basis were compelled to register themselves as ‘self-employed’ and it was only after a number of interventions by MUT that this was corrected with lecturers being given ‘proper’ part-time employment status.

Mcast denied that any of its lecturers are currently registered as self-employed workers while Forum urged concerned authorities to ensure that the injustices which have happened and are currently happening are held responsible.