Updated at 8.10pm with MUT's reply

Around 90 per cent of Mcast staff went out on strike for two hours on Thursday as no progress was made in talks on a collective agreement.

Malta Union of Teachers president Marco Bonnici said the directive was a success.

All lecturing grades, learning support educators, technical grades and student services grades at Mcast were ordered to go on strike for two hours on Thursday and Friday.

The MUT had originally announced a strike at the end of January but Mcast had taken the matter to court and the union was stopped from carrying out the action.

The strikers on Thursday stood outside the college holding banners calling for appreciation and “equal rights and pay.”

The union insists they should be paid at the same rates as equivalent grades elsewhere. 

The collective agreement expired in December 2016 and talks stagnated over pay. 

Mcast and the MUT had five conciliation meetings just this week but they all failed, Mr Bonnici said.

He said that Mcast started “firing proposals”, including a financial package that matches Junior College educators. But the increase that matched Junior College teachers would only have applied to those whose qualifications match those of Junior college educators.

That would create second class and third class educators, Mr Bonnici noted, adding that vocational sectors should be as valued as traditional academic sectors.

Further industrial action is not excluded and no further meetings are planned, Mr Bonnici said.

MCAST REACTION

In a reaction, Mcast said that it is offering the best collective agreement ever given to academic staff in its 16 year history.

It said that in the past few weeks, it put forward six proposals that moved closer to MUT’s requests.

Speaking at a press conference, Dr Silvio De Bono, Mcast governor, said that the college was offering an agreement that would benefit all Mcast lecturers, not just those who meet Junior college educator’s criteria.

He appealed for MUT to return to the negotiation table.

MUT's REPLY

But the MUT said in the evening MCAST had conveniently left out certain details that made a big difference, most notably the Annual Academic Supplement received by Junior College lecturers over and above the basic salary.

This meant that the actual difference in income was much more than portrayed, ranging from €1,345 to €7,156 per annum.

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