The Education Ministry yesterday said demands by the Malta Union of Teachers to reduce the number of contact hours every week for Institute of Tourism Studies academic stuff was not justified.
The MUT has directed academic staff at the ITS not to submit any examination papers for the first semester examinations, to refrain from performing any extra hours, and to continue to abide by the “work to rule” as already instructed by the union.
The MUT had originally declared a dispute with ITS over what it termed an ‘exaggerated delay in concluding the Revised Collective Agreement which expired on 31st December 2006’ and now about the continued impasse on the finalization of the collective agreement for the academic staff at the ITS.
Yesterday, the education ministry said the only disagreement between the union and ITS on the draft new collective agreement was over just one article, which requires full-time academic staff devote an average of up to 22 hours per week of contact hours, which comprise tutorials, sick cover and invigilation during term time to students.
The MUT wants to reduce the number of contact hours by two hours per week from 24 to 22 contact hours per week.
The ITS management is against such reduction of teaching hours in the strong believe that this goes against the interests of the students of the ITS.
“This is the subject matter of the only impasse with regards to this agreement,” the ministry said yesterday.
ITS had agreed to attend a conciliation session with the MUT which was chaired by the Director of Employment and Industrial Relations on the 19th December. “It does not result that MUT officials and ITS agreed on all the points under discussion as claimed by the MUT in its press statement. According to an email addressed to both ITS and MUT both sides agreed to consider the acceptability of a proposed compromise, which in fact would have still reduced the present weekly contact hours from 24 to 22, with the possibility of having staff working an extra two hours to be paid extra at the normal hourly rate instead of at overtime rate,” the ministry said.
The ministry said it was not true it had rejected the agreement reached between the two sides during the meeting held at the Director of Labour as no agreement was actually reached. “ITS, a government educational institution, agreed to attend a conciliation meeting hoping that better judgment would prevail and was prepared to consider the acceptability of the suggested compromise formula. The MUT knows that on such issues educational institutions are obliged to follow Ministry policy and guidelines and to consult before coming to any definite agreement. Doing otherwise, as the MUT unjustly expects, is contrary to the good governance of educational institutions.”
ITS academic staff are conditioned to a 40-hour week, of which under the current collective agreement they are bound to do 24 contact hours with students per week, using the rest of the weekly working time for preparation and corrections.
“The Ministry believes that reducing teaching or contact time with students beyond what is already established in collective agreements is an important matter of principle. The Ministry can only consider negotiating such an issue if agreement can be reached on the justification of the Union’s claim in the context of the interests of the students.”
Meanwhile, the Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) has ordered workers at the Institute for Tourism Studies not to do any work normally done by teachers. The UHM said the directive had been issued in support of the MUT.