The UĦM Voice of the Workers has ordered the University of Malta’s non-academic staff to work to rule over delays in the conclusion of their collective agreement.

A set of directives was issued for administrative, technical and industrial staff at the university.

It said these were a result of "procrastination" by the university’s management and the Education Ministry to finalise the new collective agreement for these workers.

The directives come into force on Friday.

The union registered the industrial dispute at the university in November after no progress was registered on negotiations on the new agreement that should replace the one that expired in December 2021.

The union said in a statement the directives were issued after receiving no official communication from the university, including when negotiations will continue.

These are the directives:

• No communication by telephone or mobile 
• Child Care Centre workers can call but must not answer the phone
• No communication via messaging, SMS or letters
• No use of Microsoft Teams, Zoom or any other platform
• No minutes are to be taken during meetings
• No scanning and photocopying
• No shipment of furniture, electronic equipment or other items
• No preparations for any type of events
• Coffee is not prepared for meetings
• No arrangements for classes
• No 8pm shift for health and wellness workers. This does not affect appointments with clients whose service is provided before 8am or after 5pm in agreement with the professional
• Gardeners are to start doing manual work at 8am
• No activities are to be planned at the kindergarten and childcare
• Employees cannot update parents from the Facebook page or Illumine
• There should be no observation for the children's logbook/journal
• At the dental department, workers are to reduce clinical sessions and refuse to scan x-rays

The University of Malta's collective agreement covers a vast number of workers including managers, child carers, architects, engineers, scientific officers, handypersons, messengers, dental surgery assistants, library workers, laboratory officers, psychologists, counsellors, social workers, technicians, psychologists, technicians, IT and administrative workers, among many others.