Academics’ union wanted €130,000 salary for professors in initial talks

The academics’ union UMASA initially requested a yearly salary of €130,000 for university professors during negotiations over a new collective agreement, Times of Malta has learned.

The union, which has been in talks with university authorities and the government over the deal for the past few months, escalated the dispute on Wednesday, instructing its members to withhold exam and dissertation results.

Sources close to negotiations told Times of Malta the union had initially demanded a yearly pay packet of €130,000 for full professors, together with an additional €5,000 allocated for work resources to be reimbursed when purchasing work-related materials or undertaking academic travel.

Full professors at the University of Malta are currently on a pay packet of just under €85,000 and can request an extension to their term beyond the statutory retirement age of 65.

It is unclear whether the union also requested similar increases for associate professors, senior lecturers and lecturers, all of whom currently earn between €49,000 and €72,000 a year.

According to sources, the union’s initial request was turned down, with the university offering a pay packet of €110,000, including work resources.

UMASA has since slightly lowered its demands to €124,000, plus the €5,000 allowance, but the two sides remain at loggerheads with industrial action ongoing.

The union declined to comment when asked about these figures, saying it would be “unethical” to disclose any figures or points of discussion raised during confidential negotiations.

Education Minister Clifton Grima also declined to comment when contacted.

Financial troubles

The dispute comes against the backdrop of the university’s growing financial struggles.

In its most recent audited financial statements, the university reported a deficit of €5.1 million in 2022, far higher than the €620,000 deficit recorded the previous year, with total expenditure just short of €140 million.

The increased deficit is likely linked to a series of collective agreements for university and Junior College academics signed in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Professors’ current and proposed salaries compared to several top roles in the country.

Of its €140 million outlay in 2022, just over €64 million went towards salaries for the 1,000 academic staff members employed at the university and Junior College.

University authorities and the government have frequently been at odds over the institution’s finances in recent years.

In 2022, rector Alfred Vella warned the university might be unable to hire new staff, ahead of a planned €1.1 million cut in its budgetary allocation.

Budget figures suggest that the planned cuts did not come to pass, with the university’s allocation rising slightly from €89 million in 2022 to €91 million the following year.

The government has since upped the university’s allocation to €110 million this year.

However, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana offered a withering assessment of the university’s finances at a Times of Malta event in late 2024, saying the university had to “pull up their socks and roll up their sleeves and generate income”.

Caruana’s words prompted a harsh reaction from academics, who argued that while the university does generate some income through tuition fees, “the government contribution to the university should be viewed as a partial reimbursement of the due tuition-related income of the university and not as a handout to compensate for the university's mismanagement”.