Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1519405
EARLIER this week the government and the Malta Union of Teachers signed a new collective agreement for employees at the Institute for Education (IFE). This is the first collective agreement for IFE and the first agreement signed by MUT which covers all grades employed in an entity. The agreement was approved by a 100% MUT membership vote. The Institute for Education was es- tablished by the government in 2015 and was reconstituted as an agency in 2017. It was one of the flagships of former education minister Evarist Bartolo, who transformed the train- ing section within the ministry into an agency offering specialised training to educators. Education Minister Clifton Grima shared and supported the vi- sion of IFE and the institute continued to grow through the direction of Per- manent Secretary Matthew Vella and CEO Joanne Grima. In 2019, administrative, managerial and lecturing grades chose the Malta Union of Teachers as the sole union representing them. This led to an up- hill struggle for MUT and its members particularly because all employment at IFE was regulated by Directive 7 (an agreement between the government on one side and the entity-government on the other). Overcoming the con- straints of the directive and negotiat- ing a new collective agreement was a mammoth task and was only achieved following several months of negotia- tions through the assistance of mem- bers and their delegates. The new agreement shall lead to im- proved conditions of work and an im- proved financial package for all grades. It includes more flexibility, revised policies and procedures and shall in- troduce new grades amongst other benefits. Most importantly the new agreement shall provide security of employment of IFE grades and estab- lishes the Institute of Education as a leading educational institution in the education sector. I would like to thank the Education Ministry, the IFE management, mem- bers, delegates, MUT Officials and staff for this achievement. The IFE in numbers Course participation to-date: 413 graduates as at November 2023 120 (estimated) graduates in Novem- ber 2024 217 (out of the 413) became qualified teachers 69 (out of the 413) graduated in Ap- plied Educational Leadership 360 participants are currently follow- ing a qualification 6,000+ participants (not unique) at- tended professional development ses- sions Hundreds of parents/guardians at- tended free informative sessions Courses offered: 15 Undergraduate Programmes at MQF Level 6 30 Postgraduate Programmes at MQF Level 7 50+ accredited awards for profes- sional development ranging between MQF level 3 and MQF Level 7 70 non-accredited educator sessions 50+ parental sessions targeting par- ents/guardians Let's go by elimination. It can- not be because the people who will benefit from all these cheap flights – i.e., the Maltese nation- als residing in Brussels, and other parts of Europe – were actually asking for any such State subsidy, themselves. Quite the contrary. The same article also states that: "Maltese people living abroad have repeat- edly appealed to the government to make voting easier for them, suggesting proxy voting, postal voting or overseas ballot boxes, which are used in other coun- tries…" And let's face it, folks: they have a point. For while 'cheap Mal- ta flights' are obviously going to preferable to 'more expensive ones': it would still be a whole lot cheaper for those people to just do what we all do here in Malta – at absolutely no cost, whatsoever - and simply 'walk to the nearest polling station, on their own two feet'). The question therefore remains: why, exactly, is Clyde Caruana so eager to threaten the future sur- vival of our new, fledgling 'na- tional/non-national airline', by repeating all the mistakes of the past? (Oh, and in case you were wondering: I call it that, because it's 'national' when we want to be… and 'non-national', when we want the EU to think that it isn't. Simple as that, really.) Now: at this point, I have to confess that I am very far from being an expert in European avi- ation affairs, myself; and for all I know, there could conceivably be a perfectly valid answer – or even several - to the above question. And I honestly hope there is, too: because failing that, we'd be left to conclude that the only reason why Clyde Caruana has so quickly reneged on his earlier promise, to 'not interfere with the internal operations of KM Malta Airlines' (in the same way as gov- ernments had always done with Air Malta), is that… … well, it would spare his gov- ernment all the hassle of effect- ing the tiniest of little changes to Malta's Electoral Laws… and al- low overseas Maltese nationals to simply vote in their own current countries of residence, like any- where else in the civilised world. And if that really does prove to be the case: well, do I even need to go on? 'KM Malta Airlines' would have about as much chance as a turtle-dove in Spring, of ever fly- ing out of Malta in one piece. It would, effectively, be 'grounded', before it ever even had a chance to take off. In other words: we would have brought Air Malta back from the dead… just to watch it die before our very eyes, all over again. So like I said earlier, folks: those old Air Malta pilots may have been onto something, after all, when they talked to us like we were a nation of complete imbeciles… Marco Bonnici is President of the Malta Union of Teachers The first collective agreement for the Institute for Education Marco Bonnici 11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 APRIL 2024 OPINION An Airbus A320 Neo in KM Malta Airlines livery