'Militant' behaviour of teachers’ unions slammed in judicial protest
Updated 2.20pm with MUT's reaction
Rivalry and increased militancy between two teaching unions is impacting on the education of children, a lawyer has argued in a judicial protest.
Andre Borg, himself a parent, said in his protest that the behaviour of the Malta Union of Teachers and the Union of Professional Educators had also discredited the teaching profession.
Borg is the sole signatory of the protest but says he has the backing of a number of other parents and teachers who were irked by the actions ordered by the teachers’ unions that delayed the reopening of most schools.
He said that directives issued just hours before the start of the new academic year forced the postponement of the opening of schools and disrupted plans that had been in place for several weeks.
He held that as a result of the rivalry between the two, both the MUT and the UPE were resorting to industrial action “for their egocentric purposes” and “for a union to appear more militant than the other”.
“While I firmly believe in open democracy and fundamental freedoms such as freedom of association, I also believe in freedom of expression and that parents, students, educators and other interested persons...