18 - 24 November 1999

Non-academic university staff threaten further action

by David Kelleher

Non-academic staff at the University will be taking further action if the collective agreement is not app-roved by the University Council this afternoon.

The previous collective agree- ment expired last December and non-academic staff have been calling on the authorities to finalise the new agreement.

Staff at the university contacted The Malta Business Weekly yesterday saying they were angry and frustrated that the authorities were taking so long to approve the new agreement.

"We are angry, frustrated and demoralised that nothing has been done. This is unfair. The government has settled other disputes but we have been left on the backburner," a staff member said.

The University Council is expected to meet this afternoon to discuss - for the first time, sources said - the new collective agreement. This is the final stage before it is approved.

"We hope that they will approve the agreement and not bring up other issues for further discussion. In essence the agreement has been ready so it is up to the council to decide," he added.

However, the staff are warning the university that they have had enough and will not tolerate any more delays. They said that if no agreement is reached today they will take further action.

"The university knows that the graduation ceremony will be held tomorrow. If no agreement is reached today, the ceremony will be affected," another staff member said.

Asked what type of action they would be taking, he said: "Wait till tomorrow and then you'll see." The graduation ceremony is being held in the evening.

Speaking to The Malta Business Weekly, Union Haddiema Maghqudin section secretary Joe Borg confirmed that the union would be taking further action if no agreement is reached today, however, he added that they were confident the outcome would be positive.

"The council will be meeting at 3pm. We are confident that they will not find anything wrong with the agreement, but if something does happen we will issue further directives. In fact, the union will be informing all non-academic staff at the university on the outcome of the council meeting at 5pm," Mr Borg told The Malta Business Weekly.

He said that since the problems that arose had been thrashed out with both Minister John Dalli and Minister Louis Galea, he did not envisage any other problem.

The new agreement will cover the period 1996-1998 and 1999 to 2001.

This is not the first time that the staff have taken action. In October, hundreds of non-academic staff held a one-hour silent protest in front of Students' House. The following day, they held another protest: this time the staff carried placards and sounded fog-horns. The protest was held while the University Council was meeting.