Negotiators appointed

The government will be appointing a team specifically to negotiate the collective agreement of University and Junior College academic staff, the University said yesterday.

Last week lecturers were directed by the University of Malta Academic Staff Association and the Malta Union of Teachers not to submit results of examinations and assessments, a move that has come under fire from students who yesterday joined forces to protest.

More than 1,000 students joined a Facebook group calling on the two unions to "stop this nonsense and give us our exam results".

Contacted yesterday, Umasa president Victor Buttigieg insisted that the directives would not affect students if the impasse is resolved soon. He stressed that during a rally on campus yesterday, lecturers were told to correct all assessments and exam papers but stop short of submitting the results.

Dr Buttigieg said the directives were tailored in a manner not to have an impact on students, although he admitted that there would be repercussions if the dispute dragged on as the results would then remain unpublished.

The dispute revolves around the collective agreement for academic staff, which expired in 2003, with negotiations for a new one having been held over the course of more than a year.

Dr Buttigieg said that although good progress was registered, the talks stopped at the end of April when the financial issues were due to start being discussed. The unions had given the University three weeks' notice before announcing the directives on Friday.

He said the unions - which represent some 900 academic staff members, both full-time and part-time - were prepared to meet the authorities at any time and would withdraw the directives if progress was registered.

However, the directives could also stepped up if no progress was made, he warned.

Contacted yesterday the University said it had been meeting with the two unions on a regular basis, adding that much progress had been achieved on the substance of the collective agreement.

Last week the Studenti Demokristjani Maltin and Kunsill Studenti Junior College voiced concern about the directives, saying it was unacceptable that students did not know whether they would be able to progress in their studies or not.

The Facebook group has signed a petition asking the two unions to end their dispute, saying that this was unfairly targeting students, and urging University Rector Juanito Camilleri, Education Minister Dolores Cristina and the government to open negotiations as soon as possible and demand a non-revocable promise from the lecturers to release the results in return.

Once its members had reached 1,000, the group issued a statement expressing their disappointment and frustration at the directives, saying that they were not only University clients, but equal stakeholders in the educational process.

They expressed their concern at the delay in the issuing of results, which could have far-reaching consequences, including not only disruption of preparations for the September re-sits but also loss of opportunities for employment, mobility programmes or further studies.