Educators disappointed with ’stealth and bullying tactics’, teachers’ union says

The Malta Union of Teacher has accused the Education Ministry of using stealth and bullying tactics to achieve its own aims, insisting that the government’s spin machine is trying to put society against educators.

In a statement issued this afternoon - after it stormed out of a meeting with education officials, and said a planned strike on Monday is still on - the MUT emphasised that it could “never accept” the way the conciliation process was “undermined” this morning.

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“The only result of these tactics is the increase in the disappointment of educators, which was shown today in schools where educators wore black clothes and changed their social media profiles to the one provided by the MUT: a symbolic measure to portray the message that business is not as usual,” the Union said.

“Educators are not reassured by claims that the situation that developed regarding the education act is due to a misinterpretation of a particular clause as repeated by the government,” it highlighted, It is particularly insulting to hear such remarks when new clauses included in the act clearly and unequivocally mess with the professional status of educators achieved in 1988.”

“The MUT has listed, earlier this week, a number of highly objectionable principles found in the tabled bills and the Ministry still fails to explain the reasons behind them.”

The Union added that it was not just protesting the “current abominable proposed law” but also the way the whole saga developed, with three bills to replace the Education Act which no one had seen prior to them being presented in Parliament.

It went on to say it was confirming the one-day strike for all educators in state, church and independent schools, including post-secondary and tertiary institutions, who are being directed not to report to work on Monday.