Teachers, government to meet as action disrupts non-academic activities

Four days into a work-to-rule directive that has disrupted extracurricular activities in state and Church schools, the government and the teachers' union have agreed to meet on Monday to continue discussing an allowance package.

The directive would not be suspended unless the union was satisfied with the outcome of the meeting scheduled with representatives of the education and finance ministries, the president of the Malta Union of Teachers, John Bencini said. At the beginning of the week teachers resorted to working to rule as they pushed for progress in long-drawn talks with the government over an agreement signed in June 2007.

Proposed amendments, which the union presented to the government in January, deal primarily with an increase in teachers' allowances.

Since the directive was issued by the union, both the government and the MUT have said they were willing to continue discussions to find a solution. Yet, nobody officially approached the other side until Thursday evening when the government contacted the union.

"Finance Minister Tonio Fenech called a meeting with the MUT on Monday as a sign of goodwill," a government spokesman said.

Addressing concerns raised by parents, Mr Bencini stressed that the children's safety would not be jeopardised by the work-to-rule directive. Some parents were worried about the effects of the directive. With the teachers performing minimum duties, would they still wait after working hours to ensure all children are picked up after school?

Mr Bencini stressed that it was and remained the duty of school heads and assistant heads to ensure children got home safely even if this meant waiting for hours, with no added payment, if transport was delayed. He said a number of parents had complained to the union because their children were missing out on extracurricular activities.

One school had to cancel ice cream day, teachers did not turn up for the Holy Communion celebrations and others stopped their involvement in the preparations for graduation parties.

"The authorities are constantly stressing the importance of the social partners and of unions. However, when we take industrial action we are called irresponsible. Unfortunately, children are our clients and they will be somehow affected by our actions. We'd love for that not to happen but show me one way we can do so," he said. Having said that, the academic school element was not affected as teachers continued to deliver lessons and made corrections as usual, he added.

The dispute has been dragging on since April when the union insisted that the government come up with counter-proposals and 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 when the two sides agreed to discuss the reform amendments. The union reactivated the directive last week because it was not satisfied with the outcome of a meeting with the government.