The Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology has expressed surprise at the Malta Union of Teachers' decision to direct lecturing staff to strike for two hours on Wednesday.

The MUT decided to forge ahead with the move despite discussing the last revised agreement as was proposed by the MCAST delegates, the college said in a statement.

What the MUT is referring to as the "agreement as proposed by MCAST" has actually been negotiated thoroughly with the MUT delegation and agreement had been reached on practically all issues. In fact, the MUT had publicly expressed satisfaction about its good relations with MCAST management.

Moreover, MCAST said it did not know what the MUT was referring to when it stated that it had taken account of "the prevailing circumstances including recent developments".

It said it was therefore very strange to learn that the MUT now considered the draft agreement "unacceptable".

MCAST recommended to the MUT to continue negotiating to reach an agreement rather than taking industrial action that would have an adverse impact on students.