Yesterday, Prime Minister Robert Abela insisted with the Malta Union of Teachers not to go ahead with today’s strike. Minister for Education Clifton Grima also threatened teachers by refusing to negotiate with them to go ahead with a strike. The “socialist” Prime Minister even told teachers that strikes are useless.
The Malta Union of Teachers disregarded these puerile threats and went ahead with the strike. Today, schools were left empty as 97% of teachers participated in the strike. The government will now be obliged to make a counter-proposal and I am told the union is ready to take even further measures if an agreement is not reached. The union has chosen the right strategy because Robert Abela and his government only understand the language of strength, and negotiations will be futile if the union doesn’t apply any material pressure.
A teacher’s salary in Malta starts at scale 9 and goes up to a maximum scale 7 meaning that the gross salary starts at around ย24,00 per year and rises up to a maximum of ย29,625 even with further post-degrees and after decades of service. This means that the maximum net salary for a teacher is around ย2119 per month. The starting net salary is around ย1400 per month (a waiter working at a major restaurant in the City earns more when including tips).
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