MUT to seek legal advice on demoted teachers

The Malta Union of Teachers is to seek legal advice after nine newly recruited teachers were officially informed today that they were being considered as supply teachers.

The teachers had already started teaching when they were informed that their application to become regular state school teachers had been rejected because their university re-sit results were submitted late by the University.

The circular informing them of their new status was dated October 17 but was received today.

MUT President John Bencini expressed his disappointment, telling timesofmalta.com that this meant that these teachers would see a drop of €888 in their salary in their first year. They would also miss out on the annual €447 increment and their job could be terminated at any time.

The MUT, Mr Bencini said, would be taking legal advice about the matter, but it was positive that Education Minister Dolores Cristina had told Labour MP Evarist Bartolo in Parliament that the ministry would be doing its utmost to persuade the Public Service Commission to accept these teachers as regulars, if necessary by issuing a new call for applications.

The MUT first raised the case on Monday when it explained that these teachers successfully sat for re-sits in June. Their papers were corrected on time by University academics but since the results were published late, they were not considered valid.