The Union of Professional Educators has filed a trade dispute as a result of what is says is “the abusive practices presently carried out by the Director-General, Mr Emile Vassallo.”

In a statement, the union said that this dispute, which comes into effect from Wednesday and with eight directives, follows an ultimatum that had beeb given to cease such abuses.

“The DG chose to ignore our call for good governance – fair and non-discriminatory treatment of all educators.

The UPE said that it takes “all forms of intimidation of its members seriously and is determined to stamp out these shameful abuses within the state education sector once and for all.”

The Union went on to say that it “guarantees educators’ their fundamental right to freedom of association, their right to strike and to follow industrial directives issued by a registered trade union in contemplation of or in furtherance of a trade dispute as permitted by the legal system.”

For this reason, the Union said that the following directives will come into effect as from the 26th of January in relation to the above trade dispute and other pending disputes:

Teacher members of the UPE are not to input any assessment marks online or on paper.

Teacher members of the UPE are to cease carrying out activities outside the school premises.

All members of the UPE are not to answer messages sent by parents via MS Teams.

All members of the UPE are to cease written communication via email, text, MS Teams, etc. with school management.

LSEs of all grades who are members of the UPE are to cease all paperwork related to their personal file and are not to hand in any official documentation to the SMT.

All members of the UPE are to stop accepting classroom visits by the SMT, including Supply Teachers and NQTs members of the UPE.

All members of the UPE who have COPE or SDP meetings are to log online and MUTE sound and TURN OFF the camera during these sessions. They are not to participate actively for the duration of the above-mentioned meetings.

KGE’s members of the UPE are not to accept teaching in a split classroom unless the room is adequately separated.

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