Two ITS lecturers were fired over rival union’s carelessness, MUT claims

The Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) has claimed that its rival union placed two of its members who lecture at the Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS) at serious risk by leaving them uncovered in a disciplinary procedure which led to their termination.

In a statement, the MUT accused the Union of Professional Educators (UPE) of using its only two remaining faithful lecturers at the institute and dragging them into a dispute that resulted in disciplinary procedures and eventually in their termination.

“No serious union would ever drag members in a cause that can lead to their dismissal. Serious unions have always acted to protect their members from any negative consequence to their employment, and have successfully done this for years,” the MUT said.

On Wednesday, the UPE admitted itself that two staff members were fired from ITS after following its directives.

At the beginning of the school year, ITS started to place students of different levels, namely foundation and diploma, in the same kitchen classes at the school’s training restaurant and canteen. The UPE said that this raised health and safety concerns apart from coordination issues, and thus ordered its members at the institute not to teach mixed kitchen classes or correct assignments for mixed classes.

However, since ITS is the minority union at the school, those teachers who followed UPE’s directives faced disciplinary actions due to a clause in the collective agreement negotiated by MUT, the majority union.

The UPE tried to argue that the collective agreement was no longer valid, but this argument was thrown out by a disciplinary board that ruled in favour of ITS.

In reaction to all this, the MUT said that the few lecturers who were following UPE directives were misled and being given false assurances about the right of UPE to order collective industrial action.

“Some of these lecturers approached the MUT upon noticing the way they were being used by UPE and have sought separate legal advice following which they stopped the collective directives. Upon voicing their dissent to the UPE, they received a hefty bill for legal assistance which was never provided to them by UPE,” the MUT said.

“The UPE instead used its only two remaining faithful lecturers who continued to support its cause and dragged them further in the dispute, resulting in disciplinary procedures which unfortunately resulted in their termination.”