The Church insists it is adhering to the collective agreement signed with the Malta Union of Teachers when barring a candidate from appealing a decision to fill the post of assistant head.

It said that, while the collective agreement provided for the right of appeal in the selection process for heads of school, this did not apply to other posts.

In a statement, the Secretariat for Catholic Education said the collective agreement was the fruit of lengthy discussions and was not “the result of any unilateral action on the part of the Church authorities”.

It appears that the MUT would like to go beyond the terms of the collective agreement

It was reacting to an MUT statement, which expressed outrage at the fact that a teacher, who had applied for the post of assistant head and did not make it for just one point, was not given the right to appeal the decision. The union said appealing a decision was a basic right, which could not be disallowed.

The Church authorities hit back saying they was adhering to the collective agreement signed between the two parties.

“It appears that the MUT would like to go beyond the terms of the collective agreement,” the Church said.

“When a party to an agreement wants to make changes, it would normally enter into negotiations with the other side and any changes agreed upon would enter into force after that agreement has been reached.”