University, Junior College staff told not to submit exam results

The University of Malta Academic Staff Association and the Malta Union of Teachers have declared a trade dispute with the University over the failure of the institution to make satisfactory progress on the negotiation of the new collective agreement for the academic staff, and over what they said was the institution’s failure to deliver timely counter-proposals to a remuneration package that has been proposed by the unions.

The unions have also issued a directive to academic staff at the University of Malta and the Junior College, instructing them to mark exam papers but to withhold submission of results until further notice. The directive also instructs academic staff members not to participate in any Examination Board until further notice, other than oral examinations for dissertations and theses.

"The last collective agreement between the academic staff and the University expired in 2003, and negotiations on a new agreement have been ongoing for more than a year. Negotiation meetings have now been stalled for over a month. At this point there has been no option but to declare the trade dispute," the unions said.

They said they were very careful to issue directives in a manner that ensured that there will be no negative repercussions on the students if the University responded with urgency to provide serious counter-proposals. Examinations will continue to be held as scheduled, and all scripts will continue to be marked.