Mediation in MUT, government dispute

After several weeks of deadlock, mediation has started in a dispute between the Malta Union of Teachers and the government over a union claim for the negotiation of a sectoral collective agreement for its members.

Because of the dispute, thousands of primary and secondary school students have not yet received their annual examination results.

MUT president John Bencini said yesterday the union was holding a council meeting today to discuss the situation.

"It seems that there could finally be important developments over the coming days. We hope the issue will be resolved in the best interest of the students."

The dispute arose after the government refused to negotiate a sectoral agreement with the union and insisted instead that there should be one agreement covering all civil servants.

Last June, the MUT directed all teaching grades to correct annual examination scripts but to refrain from entering marks on the scripts. They were further directed not to hand in the results to the school administration or any other official.

Students and parents have been piling up pressure on the authorities to resolve the dispute with the union.

"I believe our directives have been very effective. The education authorities have now given directives to issue the classification of the students according to the half-year examination.

"I hope that these developments hopefully lead to a solution in September and that the results will be based on the annual examinations, " said Mr Bencini.