UĦM suspends university industrial action

Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin (UĦM) has announced a breakthrough in collective agreement talks with the University of Malta.

UĦM CEO Josef Vella announced on Monday evening that industrial action at the university has been suspended temporarily after government presented a counter proposal which was closer to what the union was demanding.

“This shows that if we are presented with reasonable proposals, our intention is not to carry out strikes,” he said.

Earlier this month, UĦM issued directives for administrative, technical and industrial staff at the University of Malta after problems arose during collective agreement negotiations. Talks have been stalled for more than two years.

On Monday, university student council KSU announced that it would be organising a walkout at 10:30am in protest against the lack of progress in negotiations.

In an online address on Monday, Vella said government and the university forced the union’s hand in issuing directives, saying in two years it never received any counter proposals.

He announced that in a Monday afternoon meeting, government came closer to what the union was proposing, with further meetings scheduled on Tuesday.