PN urges government to act on university academics’ dispute
Opposition says 12,000 students are paying the price as collective agreement talks drag on
The Nationalist Party on Thursday called on the government to “take immediate action” to resolve the dispute over the University’s academic staff collective agreement, accusing it of “dragging its feet”, with 12,000 students bearing the consequences.
The Opposition was reacting to academics’ decision to withhold exam and dissertation results after their trade union UMASA escalated its dispute over a new collective agreement.
The agreement expired in 2023 and the academics’ union has been at odds with the University for several months as the government and the Education Ministry have yet to present a satisfactory collective agreement that meets the union’s demands.
The latest directives are in addition to others already issued previously, instructing academic staff not to participate in administrative meetings of departments, faculties, institutes, staff committees and boards, among others.
The PN slammed the government for “consistently failing to conclude negotiations in a timely manner with representative unions in the education sector”.
“This situation is unacceptable,” the PN said.
“It is deeply concerning that after nearly three years of discussions, the collective agreement remains far from being concluded.”