The Malta Union of Teachers is ready to call its members for a national rally unless it is satisfied with the outcome of a meeting with the Prime Minister that is scheduled to be held on Tuesday.

MUT president John Bencini yesterday listed three points he planned to discuss during the meeting and expressed his disappointment at the way the Education Ministry had tackled these matters, mainly the reduction in contact time of Institute of Tourism Studies teachers from 24 to 22 hours a week.

Reacting to Mr Bencini's comments later in the day, Education Minister Louis Galea said he could not understand how the union could ask for such a reduction in contact time as this would not be in the interest of the student.

Mr Bencini explained that, last month, a conciliatory meeting was held at the office of the Director of Employment and Industrial Relations and both the ITS and the MUT believed that an agreement had been reached on points regarding the collective agreement. One of the points was that the number of contact hours of ITS teachers with students be cut from 24 to 22.

On leaving the meeting, the Director of Labour sent an e-mail to the MUT and to the ITS listing the conclusions of the conciliation meeting. Mr Bencini said that, some time later, this agreement was vetoed by the Education Ministry claiming that no such accord was reached.

Mr Bencini said that, in vetoing the agreement, the Education Minister - who was also the minister responsible for industrial relations - showed he had no confidence in the ITS management that had been appointed by the government.

Reacting to this, Dr Galea said the MUT had not justified the request for the two-hour reduction. "As we started living in a knowledge society and economy one ought to be astonished at the fact that the MUT requested a cut in contact time with our students... Does the population want the government to accept fewer hours with students?" he questioned.

Dr Galea said the e-mail sent to the ITS and the MUT did not constitute a statement that an agreement had been reached. It stated that "both sides agreed to consider the acceptability of introducing the package" and called on them to inform the Director of Labour of the acceptability or otherwise of the package.

The ITS fell under his ministry and, therefore, any decisions taken by the ITS was always subject to consultation with the ministry.

The second point highlighted by Mr Bencini was about the position of supply teachers, supply kindergarten assistants and supply learning support assistants in view of the EU directive on indefinite jobs. This directive stipulated that a person employed for over four years ought to be given permanent employment. In line with this directive the government had issued the Contracts of Service for the Fixed Term Regulations of 2007. But, Mr Bencini said, he had been informed that the ministry responsible for industrial relations was not going to apply this regulation to hundreds of supply workers and this constituted "blatant discrimination".

Dr Galea said supply teachers, supply learning support assistants and supply kindergarten assistants were employed on an indefinite basis and not on a fixed-term basis. As such, they did not fall within the remit of the fixed-term regulations.

Finally, Mr Bencini said the MUT was concerned about the education reform. He explained that the union had tried to improve teachers' allowances and when this was discussed the Education Ministry informed the union that this would cause a ripple effect. The MUT respected these parameters but felt deceived when the same minister, as the minister for industrial relations, allowed for changes in the health sector.

Dr Galea said what the MUT was referring to was the agreement with the Medical Association of Malta. It was public knowledge that in July 2007 an agreement was reached on education reform after three years of negotiations. Another agreement was reached with the MAM in December 2007.

The two agreements did not disturb salary scales as agreed upon in the collective agreements signed with the MAM and the MUT in 2005. They merely took into consideration the particular needs of both sectors individually due to reforms implemented by the government in the two sectors, the minister said.