Teachers in state schools have been ordered to work-to-rule as from Monday after their union said it was "disappointed" the government asked them to wait another six months to discuss proposed increases in allowances.

The president of the Malta Union of Teachers, John Bencini said that, during a meeting on Monday, the government asked the union to wait until a comparative study across the public service was carried out before a decision was made on its claim for higher allowances.

The government also refused to negotiate an interim agreement pending the six-month lapse, Mr Bencini said.

A spokesman for the Education Ministry said the government was not expecting industrial action because it had left the door open for discussions during the Monday meeting.

"Given the prevailing economic situation, both in Malta and throughout the world, the government feels it would not be wise to make such decisions (about allowances) without carrying out a study.

"We left Monday's meeting open to discussions... The main difference is that the union wants immediate discussions and solutions," the spokesman said.

Dissatisfied with the outcome of the Monday meeting, the MUT reactivated the work-to-rule directive it had suspended last month and called on teachers to remain alert for further directives, even during the June exams, Mr Bencini said.

The MUT has been chasing the government to come up with counter proposals to draft amendments to the education reform signed in June 2007.

The amendments primarily deal with an increase in teachers' allowances and were the source of industrial action late last month when the union ordered a one-day strike in state schools.

A work-to-rule directive was meant to come into force on May 4 but was suspended a few days earlier after the two sides agreed to discuss the reform amendments.

The directive was reactivated yesterday after the union was not satisfied with the outcome of the informal meeting held with the education and finance ministries on Monday.

While agreeing with the concept of alignment among professions, Mr Bencini stressed that this had not been practised in 2007. Teachers had suffered an injustice when, soon after the education reform, the health sector was given a better deal even though the government had not met teacher's financial requests on the basis that there were not enough funds, he said.

Ironically, his outburst came just before the union settled another dispute it had with the government when two agreements - one for kindergarten assistants and the other for supply teachers - were signed.

The two teaching categories were previously employed on a temporary basis but the agreements, which form part of the 2007 reform, gave them better job security.

Both Mr Bencini and Education Minister Dolores Cristina welcomed the agreements that would improve the life of over 1,400 teachers.