A seemingly resolved industrial dispute on the collective agreement of University academic staff has been reignited following threats of sympathy strikes by the doctors’ union.
The Medical Association of Malta is arguing its members, which it claims represent 90 per cent of the teaching staff at the Medical School that is part of University, would be negatively affected if the agreement were to come into force.
It has warned both the Malta Union of Teachers and the University of Malta Academic Staff Association (Umasa) against signing the agreement without its consent.
The MAM said the Director of Industrial Relations should carry out a verification exercise at the Medical School to determine which union should be granted recognition.
MAM general secretary Martin Balzan yesterday told Times of Malta the issue was not financial but revolved mainly on the recognition of teaching staff qualifications, especially in the clinical streams.
The procedure adopted for the civil service collective agreement, whereby the government consulted all unions on the general terms but then addressed sectoral issues with the interested unions, should also be followed at the University, he argued.
The agreement is not tailor-made for the medical profession and we object to a number of clauses
“The proposed agreement is not tailor-made for the medical profession and we are objecting to a number of clauses,” Dr Balzan said.
He said the dispute was very similar to one registered in 2008 when the previous collective agreement had been signed.
“It took us a year to find a solution back then but is seems that the lesson has not been learnt,” he said.
He warned that if no progress was registered by the end of this week his union would order industrial action.
This threat prompted a reaction from the MUT and Umasa, which wrote to the University rector warning that they would not tolerate any attempt by the MAM to “hijack” the negotiations.
The unions branded the MAM’s claims as unfounded and its threats “arguably illegal”.
They insisted that the doctors’ union was well aware that membership majority at the Medical School did not constitute recognition at the University.
The MAM’s claims that the proposed collective agreement discriminated against members of the medical profession were also denied.
Both unions declared that if the University accepted the MAM’s request and included it in the negotiations they would again register an industrial dispute and reactivate the industrial directive lifted last week.
They would also ask to be included in negotiations involving the MAM since some of their members hailed from the health sector.