The Malta Union of Teachers has instructed academic staff at the Institute of Tourism Studies to refrain from carrying out duties outside their normal teaching load, established in the collective agreement.
It also reminded academic staff not to submit any examination papers for the first semester examinations. Furthermore, the academic staff has been told to continue to abide by a work to rule directive as already instructed by the union.
The MUT expressed its preoccupation at the continued impasse on the finalisation of the collective agreement for academic staff at the ITS.
It said it had registered an agreement with the management of ITS during a conciliation meeting chaired by the Director of Industrial and Employment Relations. "However, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment has elected to veto the agreement reached during the conciliation meeting.
"Due to the serious foregoing circumstances, the MUT has no other alternative but to issue further directives to the academic staff at ITS," the union said.
The MUT has also called for an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to discuss the situation.
It stressed that the directives were not in any way aimed at the management of ITS.
The Union Haddiema Maghqudin directed its members at the ITS not to do any work usually done by teachers. It said it was doing this in support of the MUT and ITS teachers.
The Education Ministry said there was only disagreement between the ITS and MUT on one clause, which laid down that full-time academic staff is required "to devote an average of up to 24 hours per week of contact hours, which hours shall comprise tutorials, sick cover and invigilation during term time to students. Contact hours shall be distributed equitably among all lecturing staff depending on the subject/area taught".
The MUT, the ministry said, wanted to cut the number of contact hours by two per week. But the management was against such reduction as this was against the interests of students. So ITS agreed to attend a conciliation session with the MUT and the ministry was kept informed about the developments.
"It does not result that MUT officials and ITS agreed on all the points under discussion as claimed by the MUT in its statement," the ministry said, adding that according to an e-mail addressed to both ITS and MUT both sides agreed to consider the acceptability of a proposed compromise, which would have reduced the present weekly contact hours from 24 to 22, with the possibility of having staff working an extra two hours to be paid extra at the normal hourly rate instead of at overtime rate.
The ministry denied that it rejected an agreement reached between the ITS and MUT since ITS had only agreed to consider the acceptability of the suggested compromise formula.
"Like all other employees in Malta, ITS academic staff are conditioned to a 40-hour week, of which, under the current collective agreement, they are bound to do 24 contact hours with students per week, using the rest of the weekly working time for preparation, corrections and such.
"The ministry believes that reducing teaching or contact time with students beyond what is already established in collective agreements is an important matter of principle.
"It can only consider negotiating such an issue if agreement can be reached on the justification of the union's claim in the context of the interests of the students. Without such justification, how could students, parents and teachers agree to a reduction of teachers' contact hours with students?"
The MUT also said it was also worried about the position of supply teachers, supply kindergarten assistants and supply learning support assistants in view of the EU directive on indefinite jobs, since these categories had not yet been assimilated on an indefinite basis.
However, a spokesman for the Education Ministry said that supply learning support assistants and supply kindergarten assistants were employed by the Directorate for Education Services on an indefinite basis and not on a fixed-term basis. As such, they did not fall within the remit of the fixed-term regulations.
Supply personnel could become regular employees if and when they became eligible candidates with the necessary qualifications as per government agreement with MUT and following a Public Service Commission application process.
In another press release yesterday evening, the MUT condemned unreservedly what it described as a weak attempt by the Ministry of Education to discredit the Director of Employment and Industrial Relations and the ITS directors by claiming that there was no agreement with the ITS management on the reduction of contact hours.
The MUT reiterated that, at the conciliation meeting presided over by the Director of Employment and Industrial Relations, an agreement was reached in writing on a compromise with the ITS management. "Consequently, the Education Ministry's statement only serves to cast an unjust and ugly shadow on the integrity and professionalism of all the persons involved in that meeting.
The union stated that the rate of 24 hours of contact time per week in similarpost-secondary institutions is the highest anywhere in the European Union of which Malta is now a member state.