A teachers’ union wants MCAST lecturers to get a €400 allowance to correct re-sit exam papers and an extra 10 days of holiday leave, top civil servant said on Friday.

In a press briefing held at the Office of the Prime Minister, permanent secretary Joyce Cassar said MCAST management had accepted many demands made by the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) in negotiations over a new collective agreement for lecturers.

But others were a no-go because they “go against the entire purpose of MCAST – the well-being of students,” Cassar said. The MUT said it rejected "all" Cassar's statements. 

Cassar, who is the government's top industrial relations negotiator, said they had agreed to demands to shorten the academic year, reduce the amount of study units a lecturer should teach to three, reduce contact hours with students and pay full-time lecturers a premium for classes held after 3.30 pm.

Other demands were impossible to satisfy, Cassar said.

She cited the €400 allowance for re-sit exam corrections as a case in point.

"I'm sure that if lecturers knew about the proposal they would be against it, because a suspicion will naturally arise that a student is failed on purpose," Cassar said. "Can you understand the thinking behind this proposal? because I don't.”

Cassar said it was also out of the question to increase vacation days any further, given that MCAST staff already have significantly more vacation days than the legal requirements.

The government is also unwilling to concede to a demand to cap the number of students admitted into diploma courses at MCAST, Cassar said, though they were willing to introduce a cap for foundation levels, where students need more individual attention.

Cassar said that the government was also not accepting an MUT demand to double existing work-from-home provisions to 16 hours per week, as well as another union demand to allow lecturers to be promoted to "senior lecturers" even if they do not hold a doctorate.

The latter would damage MCAST's reputation and go against efforts to equate qualifications acquired at MCAST with other institutions, she said.

Cassar said overall disagreements were not related to the overall financial package being offered to lecturers, which she described as "significant".

It is highly unusual for parties to ongoing collective agreement negotiations to divulge details of specific requests and proposals before a final deal has been struck, and previously both the government and MUT have declined to provide specifics about talks.

But negotiations concerning MCAST are now in their second year and industrial action by lecturers has led to a deteriorated education experience for many students.

Lecturers have been instructed not to disclose assessment marks to students, to not show up for staff meetings, limit work to essential tasks like teaching and halt research activities, including providing support to students for their dissertations.

They have also been told to avoid communication with MCAST administration and students outside designated contact hours, boycott MCAST events and not show up for extracurricular activities and school ceremonies, Cassar said.

Cassar said the government was going public with the information to give students and their parents insight into the situation.   

"Students and parents are begging to know their marks and to know whether they will graduate,” she said. "I have seen parents crying about this".

Cassar said that she hoped MCAST lecturers would begin ignoring union directives after learning what the MUT is actually demanding.

MUT: We are offering solutions

In a statement, the union said it rejected “all statements” made by Cassar.

They said the government “twisted” a flexi-time proposal not intended for lecturing grades to their benefit and said it was “inconceivable” that they were “requesting remuneration for failing students.”

"The MUT and its members will not be intimidated by these tactics. The Union reiterates that it is still open to negotiations towards a satisfactory agreement if the government wants to negotiate instead of attacking the MUT and abandoning social dialogue,” it said.

It said that negotiations for MCAST lecturers had been sidelined “as it would expose its systematic reduction in the educational quality at MCAST.”

Cassar does not rule out legal action

Earlier this week, the government called on the MUT to suspend directives while negotiations are ongoing.

Cassar said the government had waited for eight weeks before making that demand, but the MUT had “shown no mercy with students and did not ease the directives".

Asked if the government was considering legal action to stop the directives, Cassar said that they will be considering the "next steps" should the issues not come to a solution soon.

Union officials have blamed the prolonged negotiations on government inconsistencies.

"Negotiations had to start afresh each time an official was fired by the Ministry or a new one appointed. It is worth mentioning that the process saw the Education Ministry firing the MCAST Principal and CEO and firing also the MCAST President during negotiations,” the MUT said earlier on Friday.

They say “at least five different officials” led negotiations over the past three years, with each having different positions.

The MUT said they suspend directives twice to proceed with negotiations.

"However contrary to the Ministry’s promises, these actions did not lead to the conclusion of the agreement,” it said as it accused the Education Ministry of trying to curry favour by talking about the impact directives have on students.