Teachers' union decides to take industrial action

The teachers' union will be taking industrial action accusing the government of failing to meet its own deadline on an investigation into the payments system.

The long-standing issue revolves around complaints by the union about discrepancies in teachers' allowances and sectoral agreements when compared to those for other civil employees.

In July, the Finance Ministry set up a team to look into the allowances issue and, six months later, union president John Bencini warned that industrial action would be taken if the investigation was not completed by January 1.

The union said it had received no reply from the government and so declared industrial action. "Unless the situation changes, the union will announce what industrial action it will take in a council meeting that will be held on Monday."

A ministry spokesman insisted no exact date had been set but only a promise to publish the results as soon as the investigation was ready "by the beginning of the year". The ministry was still committed to complete the investigation and publish the results.

This is not the first time the union threatened the government with industrial action over lack of action on the matter. A few months ago, the union lifted industrial action after having been promised that the committee would look into the claims and come up with a solution.