MCAST Christmas Events To Go Ahead As Planned After Lecturers Speak Out
Updated with comments from MCAST authorities
MCAST lecturers at the Institute of Community Services campus were in an uproar last week after allegedly being told by MCAST authorities that their Christmas lunch and other extra-curricular Christmas activities were being cancelled, but MCAST authorities have told Lovin Malta that is not the full story.
Director of Communications at MCAST Pablo Micallef told Lovin Malta how the staff Christmas dinner was planned to go ahead at the Victoria Hotel, with 70 teachers expected to attend. However, “whether due to the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) directives or personal reasons, only eight people were actually planning to attend.”
“This is only one incident that is happening on the Institute of Community Services campus – the other six institutes are moving ahead as planned, business as usual,” he said.
Noting that there was a bit of a tense atmosphere on this campus due to the ongoing negotiation with MUT, Mr. Micallef also wanted to make it clear that “this isn’t a tit-for-tat situation with the lecturers, far from it. The director had no option but to cancel the Christmas dinner, even though he didn’t want to,” said Mr. Micallef.
However, over the weekend, multiple lecturers have reportedly contacted the MCAST authorities to tell them that they did indeed want the Christmas dinner to happen, with 40 lecturers confirmed to attend the event.
As a result, the MCAST Christmas dinner is back on for this Friday, as originally planned.
Director of Communications at MCAST Pablo Micallef
Mr. Micallef explained how the MCAST authorities had wanted to create a positive festive atmosphere on campus, even in light of the MUT directives, and had also contacted MUT to inquire about the other planned holiday events, such as the student hike.
“We spoke to MUT and asked if we can do the extra-curricular activities, such as the walk, and they said that the MUT’s position was to not allow lecturers to participate in extra-curricular activities,” he told Lovin Malta.
He said that it wouldn’t make sense to cancel the extra-curricular activities and then just send the students home, wasting valuable lecture time, so they were “obliged to have the lessons go on as planned,” he said.
More than anything, Mr. Micallef wanted to stress that there was no tug-of-war happening between MCAST and the MUT.
“This is clearly not the case – if they are happy, we are happy,” he said.
However, he did note that they were” aware of some individuals who had an agenda,” and hoped that they wouldn’t hijack the delicate negotiations currently underway.
Lecturers had told Lovin Malta that the authorities had “sent an email to the students and the director came to tell us that Christmas lunch is off in the staffroom,” causing “a complete uproar, with the staffroom full of colleagues who were debating this because most of them actually wanted to go.”
This is the latest development in the ongoing trade dispute between MCAST and the Malta Union of Teachers, who have ordered the lecturers to follow a set of directives that include not speaking to students outside of lessons, no submission of assignment results and no answering of emails.
The Malta Union of Teachers Executive
When contacted by Lovin Malta with the MCAST authorities reactions, the lecturers said that “I bet you now next week they will come back telling us they have reinstated them. They only do things by word of mouth at MCAST so they don’t get into hot water.”
PN candidate for the 8th district Justin Schembri told Lovin Malta that “I am constantly in touch with various lecturers and I can say that what they are saying is completely factual. Lecturers at MCAST are literally being bullied and they are afraid to speak out.”
He said that the situation had become “very political” and pointed out that “there are the MUT directives going on at the moment, and since the MCAST authorities had realised that what they were doing would backfire on the government itself, they had to backtrack.”
Justin Schembri
The Communications and PR Office on their part issued a statement that they hope will lead to better conditions for all parties involved.
“MCAST has written to the Director of Industrial and Employment Relations (DIER) to request a conciliation
meeting with regards to the present industrial dispute with the Malta union of Teachers.”
“MCAST strongly believes that as result of the collective agreement all MCAST academic staff will
enjoy significantly improved financial and working conditions. MCAST believes that this can be achieved
though discussions around the negotiation table and is asking for a conciliation meeting for this process
to continue.”
“MCAST continues to emphasise the need for discussions to continue around the table for the best end
result for educators and in the best interest of students.”
What do you think about the latest developments at MCAST?
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