Junior college teachers have rejected the notion that lecturers at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology should receive the same salary as they do, saying the work is not comparable.
MCAST educators, backed by the Malta Union of Teachers, have been calling for pay equal to their Junior College counterparts, following the expiry of their collective agreement over a year ago. The MCAST administration has offered to match conditions only for lecturers who have the same qualifications as their Junior College counterparts. The union has however rejected the proposal, saying that it would lead to second-class and third-class lecturers.
The two sides have been at loggerheads over the issue for the past few months. Around 90 per cent of MCAST staff went out on strike for two hours last Thursday and Friday to protest the delay in negotiations. The staff stood outside the college holding banners calling for appreciation and “equal rights and pay.”
But Junior College lecturers who spoke to The Sunday Times of Malta, on condition of anonymity, insist that working at MCAST is different to working at the Msida school. The difference in pay arose from the difference in working conditions, they added, pointing out, for instance, that classes at Junior College are larger.
People should be paid the same as you if they have the same qualifications as you
Besides, the teaching jobs at the school also require at least a postgraduate degree, one lecturer pointed out. On the other hand, some vocational courses at MCAST do not require a degree and only a certain level of experience.
“Other sixth forms, including Church schools, have also raised the same argument, but it’s not comparing like with like,” another lecturer said.
The comparison between MCAST and Junior College was not as direct as one might think, he added.
Some would argue that lecturers at the latter deserved to be paid more because of their qualifications while others might insist that MCAST lecturers should receive a higher salary because they teach graduate-level courses.
Another Junior College lecturer said pay should be determined solely by qualifications. “In my opinion, people should be paid the same as you if they have the same qualifications as you.”
Asked for a reaction, the MUT said it recognised that the job conditions in the two schools were different.
“MCAST lecturers, who are pioneering vocational education in Malta, are only requesting that their vocational expertise does not lead them and the institution to a lower level simply because the government wants to acknowledge the academic more than the vocational,” MUT president Marco Bonnici said.
The union also argues that MCAST started as a vocational college, and with the current drive towards vocational and applied subjects, one would have expected more appreciation of the vocational aspect of education.