Updated 2.20pm, adds MUT's reaction

Robert Abela on Sunday warned teachers that militant industrial action will not get them anywhere.

Speaking on the eve of a one-day strike by teachers over pay increases, the prime minister said a deal with educators can only be reached around the negotiating table.

“It is not right that young children are made to suffer, particularly when we have such a strong proposal on the table. The proposals will give substantial pay increases to educators.

We need to keep the discussions going. You do not get anywhere with militant action, agreements are reached around the negotiating table,” Abela said.

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.

Schools will be offering basic supervision services to children on Monday due to the strike. 

Ancillary staff and educators who report to work on Monday will be supervising children during regular school hours, but extracurricular activities, such as Breakfast Club and Club 3-16 will not be taking place on the day of the strike.

School transport will also not be operational.

The strike is part of a set of directives that include not carrying out class assessments, refraining from meeting parents and not submitting attendance sheets.

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 this week that the government will no longer negotiate with the union while the directives are in place.

Since the MUT announced its directives, the union and the government met several times but could not hammer out an agreement. 

“After a number of attempts, negotiations will continue, and we are open to continued negotiations, but only after the directives are withdrawn,” he said.

Energy prices 

During his speech, Abela dismissed calls for the government to gradually withdraw its €300 million subsidy on energy prices.

“We gave our word in 2014 that energy prices will be kept stable, and we will stick to our word,” Abela said.

The International Monetary Fund this week reiterated its call for Malta to phase out its energy subsidy scheme, saying that the scheme “does not help incentivise energy conservation or green transition”.

These comments formed part of the IMF’s 2023 concluding statement, which found that Malta had registered an “impressive” post-pandemic recovery and shown “substantial resistance” to the impacts of the war in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, the ongoing energy subsidies remain a concern in IMF’s eyes, with the government having allocated some €320 million towards the subsidies in next year’s budget.

Abela said the government’s plan is to continue investing in people, businesses and infrastructure.

“We have a plan, it is not called austerity,” Abela said. As part of this, the prime minister promised an “unprecedented” investment in the country’s energy distribution network.

MUT reacts

Reacting the MUT said its sole interest is to better the conditions of work of educators.

It said it resorted to industrial action only when social dialogue failed.

The union said it had been discussing the sectoral agreement with the government for 11 months and gave notice of the strike more than 15 days ago.

"What has been promised to educators by the government must be provided," it said.