The industrial action at childcare centres was suspended yesterday. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Parents will today be able to drop their children off at government-run childcare centres from 7.30am as usual, after the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin suspended an industrial action that would have delayed opening to 10am for a second day.

The union lifted its action after a judge ordered that no industrial action could take place pending the outcome of a court case.

Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon gave the ruling on Saturday, after an urgent application was filed by the Foundation for Educational Services.

But the union was only notified about the decision yesterday morning, which meant it was too late to stop yesterday’s industrial action.

The action revolved around a disagreement between the Malta Union of Teachers and the UĦM over who represents childcare assistants working for the foundation, which runs 13 government childcare centres.

The MUT had asked the court to stop the UĦM from negotiating a collective agreement for childcare assistants with the government. On February 27 the court temporarily upheld the MUT’s request and issued a provisional injunction.

The UĦM will wait for the final decision of the court

The UĦM then ordered its members within the foundation, including childcare assistants, to follow industrial action. It said it was not satisfied with the management’s proposals on workers’ conditions.

Foundation employees were told not to go beyond the established child-carer ratio, not to answer the phone or send e-mails and not to start their day’s work at childcare centres until 10am.

On Saturday the foundation filed an urgent court application saying the UĦM had acted in contempt of court when it ordered the action since this was a breach of the injunction. That same day, Mr Justice Zammit McKeon ruled that neither of the two unions could order industrial action until the case filed by the foundation was decided and set a sitting for today.

In a reply filed yesterday, the UĦM said that, until yesterday morning, it was not aware of Saturday’s ruling. It insisted it was not in breach of last week’s injunction since it barred negotiations – and the union had not embarked on further negotiations with the government. However, in light of the court ruling, the union suspended the industrial action at this stage.

When contacted a spokeswoman for the UĦM said it would wait for the final decision of the court before deciding whether or not it would resume its action.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Education Ministry said the foundation had informed parents, through text messages and social media, that today the childcare centres would be opening at 7.30am.