An "overwhelming" 97% of educators went on strike on Monday as they followed a union directive fuelled by a pay dispute with the government.

The Malta Union of Teachers said early information indicates "the strike participation is overwhelming".

MUT chief Marco Bonnici said the union was informed that about 600 state school students, out of a total of around 35,000, turned up to school. No students turned up in church schools.

"The effect of the strike could also be seen during school opening hours when school entrances were empty, lacking the usual presence of educators and students," the union said as it thanked educators for this "manifestation of support towards the common good".

The union said that support for the strike showed unity among teachers and that it remained open to discussions with the government. 

Asked about the way forward, and if the directives will continue on Tuesday, Bonnici said: “The strike was the peak of our industrial action. We are open to dialogue. We will wait to see what will happen in the upcoming hours.”

Asked why the union and government keep details under wraps, Bonnici said that – as always happened in such cases – union negotiations remained between the two parties.

“This is the practice. Otherwise, they will no longer remain negotiations, but become a public discussion,” he said.

He added that the negotiations tackled work conditions and the financial package, however, the main stumbling block remained the financial one.

“The gap is still wide,” he said.

Two weeks' warning

Two weeks ago, the MUT issued a set of directives to teachers and educators in all church and state schools. Directives included not carrying out class assessments, refraining from meeting parents and from submitting attendance sheets. 

The union also announced that teachers would go on strike if an agreement was not reached by Monday.  Despite several meetings no agreement was reached and the strike went ahead.

While details have not been made public, the main stumbling block is the financial package for teachers. 

Schools shut down today due to a teachers' strike. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

A few days before the strike, the government announced a contingency plan.

It meant that schools would offer basic supervision services to children due to the strike. Ancillary staff and educators would supervise children during regular school hours, but extracurricular activities, such as Breakfast Club and Club 3-16 did not take place. School transport was not operational.

Church schools on the other hand asked parents not to send their children to school.

Meanwhile, the MUT’s rival education union, the Union of Professional Educators, told its members they were free to join their colleagues on strike, promising to protect them if they opted to do so.

More transparency 

Graham Sansone, from the UPE, said he was informed most children did not turn up to school. 

"The success of a strike is not measured by how many teachers or students turn up but by whether an agreement is reached. What happens now?" he said as he called for transparency from both the government and the MUT about the details of the negotiations so that teachers and the public would know what they were talking about. 

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola expressed her support towards teachers and said this was a dark day for education. Children missed a day of school because the government slammed the door in the face of teachers, she said on Facebook.

Prime Minister Robert Abela on Sunday warned teachers that militant industrial action will not get them anywhere. He said a deal with educators can only be reached around the negotiating table.

While not going into detail about the pay increase on offer to teachers, Abela did say the proposed package would see bigger increases than those offered to teachers five years ago, during the last round of collective agreement negotiations.

According to the main teachers’ union, the MUT, the differences between the proposed pay package by the government and what the union is expecting were “considerable”.

Education Minister Clifton Grima said last week that the government will no longer negotiate with the union while the directives are in place.