In a bizarre twist to the teachers’ agreement saga, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Matthew Vella, and the HR Manager of the Office of the Prime Minister, Joyce Cassar, have sent a letter to all teachers. The letter, riddled with errors, is encouraging teachers to support the proposed agreement by the Ministry of Education.
Rarely if ever are civil-servants involved in the official correspondence with a working body apart from the fact, that the letter is bypassing the Malta Union of Teachers themselves as if urging its members to take a position irrespective of its discussions and negotiations. Having been missing from the letter signatories himself, Education Minister Clifton Grima seems to be either distancing himself from the letter or not even in the lead of the negotiations. Supposedly, such a letter would have been signed by the Minister himself, even though it should have never been sent in the first place.
Rarer still is the fact that Joyce Cassar is showing herself and defending the position of the government as if showing that the OPM is ultimately in charge of these negotiations.
The letter itself is riddled with factual and mathematical errors such as the error that at a scale 7 salary promotion after 16 years of service, the teacher would have a total salary of around €47,340 when in actual fact, a scaler 7 salary of €32,043 with an allowance of €10,500 adds up to €42,543, not to mention that this position is actually a competitive post and not granted by default.
The major issue with the agreement is that it is being rushed by the Ministry of Education before the elections with teachers, learning support assistants and other union members still left in the dark with the details of the agreement.
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