Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/997322
NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 JUNE 2018 KARL AZZOPARDI MALTESE bread prices will increase as of next month due to increased expenses and wages, according to me- dia reports. The proposed increase in bread prices will see the large loaf price go up by 24c and the small loaf by 20c. The agreement reached between approximately 90 bakers, will come into ac- tion as of next month as a response to the increase in the price of wheat as well as the ever-increasing wage demands. The price of a 50kg sack of wheat will increase by €2, according to local reports. A large portion of Mal- tese bakers buy wheat from Federated Mills, whose managerial director, Marco Cachia, claimed that bakers who buy wheat from the company have been noti- fied about the increased in- ternational price of wheat. "Foreign experts who col- laborate with us in the pro- cess of buying wheat have notified us that the price of wheat will increase in a manner that forces the company to revise the way it operates, forcing us to increase the price. This is the first time in four and a half years that the price of wheat has been altered," Cachia told the media. Price of Maltese bread to rise as of next month The proposed price increase will see the large loaf price rise by 24c and the small loaf price by 20c due to increasing wage demands and the price of wheat TIA RELJIC THE Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) is at loggerheads with the Secretariat for Catholic Education following months of failed nego- tiations on a new Collective Agree- ment, and has declared a trade dis- pute. The demands of the MUT to bring working conditions of teach- ing grades in Church schools in line with state schools are not being met by Church authorities, the MUT said. The decision to declare the trade dispute was based on six points of disagreement, including the Church's reported disagreement with a proposed mechanism where- by schools recognise the service of teaching grades already employed in Church schools and who wish to provide their services in another Church school. "The MUT shall not be accepting conditions of work which are infe- rior to what is being expected and shall be updating members about the situation during a dedicated meeting," the Union said. The Church authorities also opted not to provide laptops to kindergar- ten teachers and learning support educators, and are "expecting to have a pick and choose mechanism when it comes to summative and continuous assessment, which will lead to increase in workload," ac- cording to the MUT. The MUT said that Church au- thorities are not willing to pay teachers for the additional workload caused by the preparation of exam papers, and that they will leave a group of seven counsellors outside current negotiations "despite the fact that their salaries and condi- tions were always aligned in previ- ous agreements with those of other grades in the same agreement." The Church reacts The Secretariat for Catholic Edu- cation said that it was surprised that the MUT declared an industrial dis- pute on "issues it is working to re- solve." "The Union is also informed that, in the coming days, the Secretariat has meetings scheduled with dif- ferent entities to discuss the issues highlighted by the MUT." The Secretariat said that all edu- cation grades employed by Church Schools and reimbursed by the State enjoyed the same financial remu- neration. Teachers' Union declares trade dispute with Church authorities