Lecturers at the University and Junior College have given the government until tomorrow to come up with acceptable counterproposals to enable collective agreement negotiations to continue.
The Malta Union of Teachers and the University of Malta Academic Staff Association yesterday jointly declared a trade dispute with the University and the government “on the needless procrastination” to hammer out an agreement.
The unions said they had submitted proposals on the financial package for the collective agreement on April 23, as had been requested by the government.
But, since then, they had received no feedback, creating a deadlock in negotiations.
The unions gave the university and the government until tomorrow to produce counterproposals or face industrial action.
Meanwhile, in a statement, the University Students’ Council (KSU) said any effective action cannot be detrimental to the education of university students.
“Education of all students at university is not a bargaining tool,” the council said, adding that it acknowledged the importance of financial resources.
“KSU agrees that it is in the interest of a better educational system that packages are improved in an effort to continue attracting the very best of academics… however, this must never be done at students’ expense,” the council said.