Updated | [WATCH] Teachers’ union forced to call off strike action at MCAST after college seeks court injunction

The MUT has suspended two two-hour strikes on Thursday and Friday at MCAST • A grey day for trade unionism

Malta Union of Teachers President Marco Bonnici said the union has never faced such a situation over legitimate industrial action. Photo by James Bianchi
Malta Union of Teachers President Marco Bonnici said the union has never faced such a situation over legitimate industrial action. Photo by James Bianchi
The MUT has condemned the legal action taken by MCAST to stop strike action at the school

The MUT has condemned the legal action taken by MCAST to stop strike action at the school, describing it a “grey day” for trade unions.

“This is a grey day... never has the union faced such a situation over legitimate industrial action,” MUT president Marco Bonnici said on Thursday morning.

The administration at MCAST filed a court injunction on Wednesday, which was provisionally upheld. The court case proper will be heard next week.

MCAST wants to stop the strike action ordered by the MUT after failure to close the collective agreement for its more than 600 members at the college.

As a consequence of the court decision, the union had to suspend two scheduled strikes by all lecturers and staff members.

Speaking in front of the college gate in Paola, Bonnici said the last-minute manoeuvre by the college administration was an affront to trade unionism.

“This is a threat not only for the MUT but all trade unions and the right to take industrial action,” Bonnici said.

He accused MCAST of dragging its feet on the collective agreement talks.

The previous agreement lapsed last year.

The MUT wants MCAST employees to enjoy the same work conditions and salary scales as equivalent staff members at the Junior College.

Bonnici said any agreement has to encompass all four lecturing and staff grades at MCAST.

“The Union will not accept a situation where agreement is reached on one grade and not the rest,” Bonnici warned.

He also accused the college of breaching data protection laws when it asked students to take care of attendance sheets.

Unacceptable for MCAST to resort to courts to stop workers' right - FORUM Union Maltin

In a statement, FORUM Union Maltin said it was disappointed to note that MCAST had resorted to the law courts to stop “workers’ right to industrial actions as part of a legitimate trade dispute”.

“It must be stated that MUT tried, through negotiations, to reach an agreement on the new terms and conditions of employment, but it cannot accept MCAST’s delaying tactics to the detriment of both the employees and the students,” said FORUM Union Maltin.

Moreover, it said that the MUT had followed all procedures required by the Employment and Industrial Relations Act by attending two conciliation meetings chaired by the Director of Industrial Relations to try and find an agreement.

It said that given that no agreement had been reached, the MUT had resorted to the “next logical step”.

“It is outrageous that MCAST, an educational institution is challenging one of the fundamental workers’ right, the right to strike as recently reconfirmed by the ILO,” it said. “It is clear that MCAST’s action is not only against worker’s right but also against the interest of its students since all employees are demoralized and as per today, are worse off in condition of work when compared to their colleagues in other institutions around the country.”

Finally FORUM Union Maltin appealed to the Ministry for Education to step in so that the impasse could be resolved in a timely manner.

Industrial action cannot take place during ongoing negotiations – MCAST

MCAST said that while it understands and appreciate the right to turn to industrial action, it felt that this couldn’t be done during ongoing negotiations, especially when such meetings had registered significant progress towards reaching a final agreement.

“MCAST strongly believes that these directives are abusive and illegal and in contradiction of the collective agreement provisions, particularly clause 46.1,” it said.

“These industrial actions are being carried out during exams period, directly disrupting the College’s operations and worst of all, the students’ exams preparations. It is the duty of the management and the Board of Governors to safeguard the students’ interests especially when such actions are unfairly targeting them.”

It added that it couldn’t understand why MUT had decided to revert and increase industrial action, leading to the stalling of negotiations once again, and this at a stage when significant progress had been achieved.

“To date, an agreement had been reached on a number of issues including that of increasing the maximum salary for all lecturers to the maximum level proposed by MUT for 2018. MCAST, therefore, appeals to MUT to once again allow negotiations to continue,” it added.