The Malta Union of Teachers has rebuffed a call from the new head of MCAST to call off industrial action, lambasting him for threatening to take it to court in his first communication since his appointment.

The institute and the union have had years of fruitless talks on a new collective agreement - the old one having expired nearly three years ago.

Last Thursday, new principal and CEO Stephen Vella - a former senior Mcast management official -  wrote to the union, saying that in view of the failure of the talks, they should go to arbitration and bind themselves to the decisions taken there.

In correspondence seen by Times of Malta he also 'invited' the union to consider suspending industrial action.

He warned the union that if it failed to reply by (last) Friday at 11am or if it declined the invitation, MCAST would seek redress through other legal avenues.

The union reactedon Friday by registering a new industrial dispute and announcing plans for a protest by the staff on Tuesday morning (tomorrow).  

MUT president Marco Bonnici also wrote to the principal, saying it was no surprise that his very first communication with the union following his appointment consisted of threats of legal action.

"Our reply is clear. After two years and nine months of an expired collective agreement, you are in no position to establish terms of negotiations to the union. Nor can you ask and obtain the suspension of (industrial) actions or issue threats to the union. You have not even attended a single negotiation meeting with the MUT. Negotiations for you are an arm-twisting exercise, which is what your communication is all about."

Rather than recognising the blunder of years of negotiations that led to nothing, the new principal had issued a threatening email, Bonnici wrote. 

He added that the MUT did not trust the new principal and, based on his communication and position, would not negotiate with him.