State-Sponsored Monopoly Suppressing Educators’ Voices
Educators in Malta have nothing to celebrate on World Teachers’ Day except the fruit of their own unappreciated labour.
Educators employed with the state have not yet received the much vaunted sectoral agreement increases despite the fact that said agreement had been overdue for over two years! Educators employed with MCAST and ITS are in a worse predicament as their respective agreements are also long overdue.
The UPE maintains that the pitiful condition of educators in Malta is due to the executive arm of the state assisting an obsolete and ineffective trade union whilst at the same time resorting to all sort of tactics to suppress the UPE.
The UPE asks how are educators’ voices valued when:
- The state education sectoral agreement was ratified by less than 20% of the educators’ concerned?
- The state failed to check whether the union signatory to the education sectoral agreement actually had the majority of the educators concerned as paid up members?
- The state denied LSEs in its employment the right to be represented by the UPE when the UPE possessed a verified and proven majority (more than 50%+1) of these LSEs as its members?
- The state assists one trade union whilst at the same time trying to suppress the other?
Educators are fed up of their poor working conditions are urged to ponder on the above.
In the coming days the UPE will be informing educators further how their fundamental rights have been trampled upon in the process.
Meanwhile the UPE pledges to continue its mission to improve the quality of life of educators and their families.