Mcast and the Malta Union of Teachers locked in a war of words on Thursday after a court suspended industrial action which the teachers’ union had ordered.

Silvio Debono, chairman of the Mcast board of governors, insisted that court action taken by the college to stop industrial action was not an affront of workers’ rights, but a means to defend the students’ right for their education.

He described the MUT’s directives as surprising and irresponsible, more so, he said, because talks on a new collective agreement had still been under way, and progress had been made on several fronts.

For example, he said, agreement had been reached on a new grade for senior lectures and researchers, and it was also agreed that there should be an increase in educators’ salaries.

‘What is stopping the MUT from continuing the talks?’ he asked.

The MUT had ordered strikes of a few hours on Thursday and Friday but they were suspended after a court issued an injunction at the request of Mcast late on Wednesday.

MUT President Marco Bonnici said Mcast was trying to silence the MUT and obstruct the union’s legitimate work in the interest of members. Moreover, such an unprecedented action by a leading educational institution transmitted the worst possible message to both educators and to students who valued freedom of association and representation and the fundamental right to manifest dissent through their representative body.

The union, he said, would take all necessary actions to ensure that educators at Mcast obtained the best agreement possible, in line with other post-secondary institutions such as the Junior College.

He said the union had been in dispute with Mcast for almost two months but found a lack of good will from the college.

The Mcast collective agreement expired in December 2016 and the new union administration re-activated negotiations in July 2017, with meetings held regularly during the past months 

Watch: Handful of students show up for Mcast silent protest