Education supply staff train to qualify for indefinite contract

Almost 50 supply workers with the Education Division have completed a course that will make them eligible for an indefinite contract.

Another 144 are undergoing a course to become eligible for an indefinite contract, an Education Ministry spokesman said.

The employees, who almost number 200, are among 1,400 supply workers with the Education Division who did not have an indefinite contract, even though some had been engaged by the division for as long as 30 years.

Last year, the government signed an agreement with the Malta Union of Teachers giving a guarantee of an indefinite contract to all supply categories who had been engaged for at least four years.

The spokesman said the agreement improved the work conditions of many workers, who were ineligible for career progression and had no job security.

The MUT, on Tuesday, complained that, a year after the agreement was signed, the supply workers had not yet been given an indefinite contract. However, the ministry spokesman said the employees were offered courses according to the number of years they had been working for as supply staff. This would allow them to become indefinite employees in the same category they had been working in.

He said supply staff was engaged when there was need for a stop-gap employee, including to replace workers on maternity leave. Some were retained for many years.