Wednesday, 1st October 2008 - 09:53CET
‘Lecturers’ strike 100% success’
The one day university lecturers' strike is turning out to be a "100% success," MUT president John Bencini told timesofmalta.com this morning.
He said the lecturers had obeyed their unions’ orders and had not turned up for work at the University and Junior College. The strike directive was issued by the Malta Union of Teachers and the University of Malta Academic Staff Association, which are in a pay dispute with the government .
Mr Bencini said that the only people who turned up for work were those who the unions had exempted from their directive, namely the part-timers and those who were under probation.
Mr Bencini said that this morning, non-academic staff replaced lecturers for a familiarisation talk to the new University students.
As soon as the MUT and UMASA learned about this, they contacted the other unions who promised they would see there would be no further strike breaking.
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I cannot but agree that there is a large number of lecturers who do not deserve their pay - however keeping down the salaries will only serve to drive away the ones who do deserve it. There are a number of lecturers who would easily earn 6-figures in the field, yet they dedicate themselves to us and research. The real problem is the lack of meritocracy. Awarding a performance bonus to everyone is a joke, and only discourages the ones who really earned it. A bonus implies exceeding expectations - in this case, the message is that they all performed above expectations...
The lecturers are the university's greatest asset, and have my full support.
Lack of comments mean that there were no comments to make, either in favour or against.
Re your comment that most people would normally clamour for early retirement, that may apply to those who are well off and paid handsomely because they can afford it, but you can rest assured that the majority of workers do not since they have a comparatively miserly pension relative to the cost of living.
Re public salaries you may find them in the budget document, but if any are missing they should be published.
What i WILL comment on however is the way in which these disputes have a tendancy to effect the innocent party ; the student. This morning University is packed with students who showed up to University not knowing whether their lecturers would show up or not. This represents a serious waste of time for students who do not like to start off their new academic year at the mercy of a dispute, being kept in the dark about whether their lectures are taking place or not.
This is not the first time an MUT vs Gvmt dispute has effected the student, we all remember the dispute which had students wondering about when marks would be published.
If you ask me, MUT should, at the very least, instruct the teachers on strike to advise the students by email that the lecture is cancelled.
I see no comments on today's story about the "total success" of the dockyard's early retirement scheme. So, I wonder where the joke is. Of course, such a scheme would be a success as most people normally clamour to receive early retirement.
My point is no one seems to be bothered with the umpteenth waste of resources through this scheme which if anything should have been implemented years ago while so much bile is being poured with respect to the request for a new collective agreement which has expired more than three and a half years ago.
It would be interesting for gov't to render public the salaries and perks that top people in the civil service and in public entities are receiving and compare them to what is on offer to academics. I think if this were to take place, many people would change their tune.
Lecturers abroad (of much better universities) earn less, in comparison to living costs, than what the union is demanding. In addition, they dedicate their life to research that mainly benefits the university they represent.
The standards of the university are falling, so much so, that in some departments lecturers are giving private tuition at an expensive cost to students. Private lessons at a cost from a lecturer at the university level is a huge humiliation and something that is unheard of in developed countries, since the main goal of university is to learn how to learn things by yourself.
I think your initial comments are very arrogant and sarcastic. Public opinion is against the lecturers not out of envy, as you so childishly put it, but because the Union, and its members are obviously disregarding what is going on around them. Mintoff was right when he accused them of living in an ivory tower - unfo they are still there.
How can these people not realise that their claims are totally out of synch with the economic reality in this country? They are abusing their monopolistic position - give us what we want or the students will suffer....
By the way, let us not forget the very many consultancies that these people carry out on a private basis - for a good number of them, the salary they get from uni is just the cherry on the cake.
Let the lecturers threaten all they want - there are plenty of European Phd holders who would love to come and work here. Who knows perhaps they our students will gain more from their experience and knowledge.
And another thing. Did you know that two OFFICIAL and SEPARATE surveys didn't even place Malta among the TOP 500 Universities in the world?!
"but no one has yet commented on the dockyard early retirement scheme ..."
Are you joking Mr Ellis, or were you not living on this planet?
Government give the University lecturers professors etc what they deserve, but also increase all the other workers wages, salaries and pensions at par with the increase that the lecturers and professors get.
I expect all decent unions worthy of their name to support this proposal.
Minister Dalli's recent comments on (more or less) the above subject theme are still echoing in my ears. One cannot however generalise. There are lecturers who are really productive & others who are not. If I was the Minister for Education I would ask each & every university lecturer what really is Malta profitting from their research and how many classes they lectured last year. Otherwise, let's face it....who doesn't enjoy pleanty of official & unofficial holidays & free time?!
This is the standard of living in Malta. Lecturers are not being under paid. Maybe they are under paid when compared with other countries but it is not a problem affecting the University but the entire country.Should all people go on strike?How about graduated people being under paid?
Please think outside the box. Requesting such a high salary is not a reality but a desire considering Malta’s position.My job’s salary in foreign countries is three times higher then in Malta.People like me should strike?
I think that there are other solutions rather then doing a strike at the beginning of a scholastic year.
It's time I think to see through the stipends system. As for the strike 100% success. This is one other vacation leave they have taken for themselves. As if the summer holidays were not enough for them. After holidaying abroad, they need some further holidays here in Malta.
It's not as if I did not explain that there is more, much more, then just corrections involved. However if you insist on looking only at this aspect, as if University is a glorified secondary school that is preparing its students for O' levels, then I can only suggest you try to broaden your views on what actually goes on in University in general.
And btw we are not talking of 20 student classes here, we talk of at least 5 fold that amount and at times even more. So bare with Lecturers if they don't tend to correct spelling mistakes (even though ppl use pcs and appropriate software for their work), however any flaws in argumentation or structure have to be pointed out. Maybe even discussed with students. But then again different lecturers use different approaches, similar to students for that. No?
It seems you didn't get my point.
The uni. lecturers don't deserve the wage increase is mainly because of their arrogance such as failing students and their lack of respect towards the student and not for political reasons
Yes true, the Dockyard issue is also a big burden on the country but at least it will be over by end December 2008. Finally we got rid of the Dockyard saga so we do not need to open the University saga now!! Should the Government agree to the raise expected by the MUT, we will have another Dockyard at Tal-Qroqq
As for students missing lectures etc, this is a joke. I wonder how many times students miss a lecture because of hang-overs or oversleeping. At least, we used to do so in my student days and I am not scandalized at all.
I urge both parties to resort to arbitration to sort this issue.
Why should we give them an increase? Ha ha ha.
No problem mate.
Let the Brain Drain continue.
Let them go abroad and earn 5 times what they are earning in Malta.
Where are the Salaries (Bhall ta' barra) - Eddie 1990.
Another case of LIES and DECEIT.
As for all the blogs by these people who are just spurting out unfair generalisations against lecturers may I say that when I was at University most lecturers in my faculty used to turn up for their lectures and give us their best, answer our emails even on weekends and in the holidays, meet us in the holidays even at their homes for dissertation supervision, monitor us throughout our course, make sure WE attend lectures, give us the whole unit of 14 hours even when they would have missed a lecture due to a conference or other duty (as these are replaced when a lecture is missed) and committed themselves to a life of research and studying. My supervisor had spent the whole summer writing out her Phd thesis, her only means of getting promoted from assistant lecturer to lecturer - so don't think that a lecturers life is easy.
A whole Summer correctin when you hand in an siignment and you get it months if not YEARS later with just a grade at the back of the assignment and not even markings anywhere ? And Transparency at university ? Compare that to a teacher where you are vulnerable to attacks from parents, authorities, students ...
One final point - are there ever lectures on the first day ? So as if the strike affected the students ?
I totaly agree with Liam Kelly
When the only thing they do is to fail as many students as they can each year &
have no respect towards the students
It may very well be true that the financial situation in the country cannot sustain the quantum of increases required but we have to chose between affordable mediocrity and unaffordable excellence. I also find great solace in the wisdom of Oscar Wilde who once stated that "Accountants know the cost of everything and the value of nothing." Whilst budgets are very important we must make sure not to dismantle good things for the sake of balancing the books.
You are talking about a vocational career so it is not that easy to say, swap jobs etc. I do not have that vocation but on the other hand the job I practice is underpaid when compared to Cyprus (to use your same measure). What should I do? Enrol in a Union and call for strikes?
I’m in favour of an increase in their salaries but what they are requesting is absurd.
So what is so wrong in bearing the fruit of such hard work and pain? I will never defend those who overcharge unscrupulously but surely there are many who charge modest fees in line with their specialisation.
I for one, would never want to enter the medical profession yet I am full of respect for what they do.
The posts may be open to application for all, but not all have a chance to be chosen, even if they have more qualifications than those who are.
As regards the rest of us lesser mortals, we want a comparable increase in in our wages to make ends meet.
And please don't forget the pensioners.
They have the cheek to ask for a hefty raise when we all know that most teachers do not work a 40 hour week !
1) It is UTTERLY untrue that the Lecturers have THREE months holidays.
2) Apart from this lie, there were lecturers who worked all through the summer and successfully organised an international conference involving hundreds of foreign participants. Others had other activities during the summer months.
3)Lecturers had to leave our country for many years(and this, during the best part of their lives) to study to obtain the PhD, deprived of their families and friends. Very often, apart from their studies they also had to work during their stay abroad to cover their expences.
4)If you assume that lecturers have had it so good, I wonder why you didn't read a PhD and become a lecturer.
Clearly, this strike demonstrates only the ignorance of some people. Instead they work more and justify there salary, they go on strike. They only want to have their pockets deeper for less. It is better to justify there salary and then request and reasonable salary.
Anyone can give a reason to justify such a high increase?
Pity the students that want to start their studying.
At least it makes one thing absolutly clear: When it comes down to it; they have utterly no interest in students at all.
The general consensus amongst students i've talked to is that teaching staff do not deserve any pay increase based on their performance and poor work ethic: Not turning up for lectures is something that seriously needs to be addressed.
By the way, its interesting that the teachers unions have adopted the North Korean approach to unionism...tow the party line or else! Why aren't teachers allowed to teach if they so wish to? Isnt that blatent authoritarianism?
The teachers have no sympathy with me or any other student i know.
1) Unions had earlier stated that their proposals are based on European counterparts in the region and cited Cyprus as an example...so no they are not demanding swiss salaries!
2) Again earlier it was reported that negotiations have been ongoing for the past 2 years and even throughout this summer - unlike what J. Busuttil is insinuating.
Just a final suggestion to all those bloggers who beleive that academic work is a walk in the park: Calls for applications for academic posts are open to ALL so anyone feeling envious or interested in securing a job at Univeristy, is more than welcome to apply when the next call is out. If they don't it's either because they are happy with their exisitng salary/job or they do not meet the requirements/qualifications to apply. Sorry to the latter - tough luck! Next time sweat it out and study for more than 2 decades of your life to earn yourself qualifications that would make you eligible to apply!
I would defend the medical profession in a similar manner too!
Why does cikku il poplu have to comment in such a way that shows the persistent immaturity of certain Maltese ppl. I suggest Mr. Portelli first checks out his sources of information and then comment. Contrary to Teachers, who for the sake of argument also do not have 3 months of relaxed summer holidays, Lecturers (at University and Junior College) have only the month of August. One should not forget corrections of exams, thesis projects and more, as well as preparation for new courses and projects (EU related and local). This for the information of the public in general, goes on all the year round, and at times is not even done during office hours, but on Saturdays' and Sundays'. All these blunt comments highlight the fact that ppl still don't know what really goes on at university.
The world's economy is going to hell and they demand more money because their pay rise doesn't meet what they say are their needs.
I do believe the lecturers do deserve a higher wage, as well as everyone else in this country. But with the current situations happening, it seems a little rediculous.
This is Malta, not a country like Switzerland or Norway. Untill our Economy becomes more stable and healthy, we can only hope to make ends meet. Costs of living are going up for everyone not just University lecturers and other lecturers. It's getting difficult for everyone.
A strike is a right it must be used with caution. Shame 1st day of school with no lecturers i remember my old school day where i missed a lot when teachers striked for months in the 80's
The doctors got a hefty increase, but these deserve it since they work whole days, and almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The University staff cannot, not even in their dreams, compare themselves with hospital doctors.
If these 'elite' workers (University lecturers) are given what they request, then all of us would ask for the same increases. We'll paralyse not just the University, but the whole Islands.
80% increase! Huh.... Who will pay for these? Us? ....Mela, forget it.
Presumably the handout for the summer was not enough.
Tell it to the Workers who toiled on the job in the hot summer months.