The Malta Union of Teachers and the union representing the University's academic staff, UMASA, will today hold a conciliatory meeting with the University management in the presence of the Director of Employment and Industrial Relations in a bid to solve the impasse over the new collective agreement.
The meeting is being held in an attempt to solve a shaky situation which is threatening to stall the commencement of the new academic year on Wednesday.
The unions and the university management are at loggerheads over the new collective agreement for academic staff at the University of Malta and the Junior College.
Negotiations over the new collective agreement for academic staff had started in May last year, three-and-a-half years after the previous one expired in December 2003.
During negotiations the parties had agreed in principle to the text of the new collective agreement but had failed to agree over the financial package being offered to lecturers. The unions said there were "big differences" between what they were requesting and what the University was offering.
In view of this situation, the MUT last week expressed serious doubts as to whether the university will start its academic years as planned on October 1. An UMASA spokesman told The Times earlier this week that they did not rule out the possibility of ordering a strike if the stalemate remained unsolved.
UMASA president Victor Buttigieg had said that, without the new collective agreement, the university would be downgraded to a "glorified school" and would not be able to achieve the targets it had set.
Meanwhile, MUT president John Bencini yesterday confirmed that the union had held a four-hour meeting with Education Minister Dolores Cristina over other issues between the union and the government.
When contacted, Mr Bencini said the meeting, which he described as "cordial", was attended by the heads of the two education directorates and by the permanent secretary at the Education Ministry.
Mr Bencini said the meeting was just one in a series, adding that similar meetings were needed in order to address situations before they get out of hand.