Dear Comrades,
It is with great pleasure that the Union of Professional Educators – Voice of The Workers is conveying its support and solidarity to all of the TEFL Workers Union members, activists and delegates, who are currently working around the clock to organise and strengthen the trade union movement within the English Language Education sector.
The UPE welcomes your letter of support during these challenging times when the EFL sector has suffered a huge blow due to the pandemic. The Union is glad that during these difficult moments it has the support of other comrades who are fighting for the same cause.
After having looked up information about your trade union movement and its origins, we can truthfully say that we will be honoured to work with you more closely in the near future.
During the past weeks, since the onset of the pandemic, the UPE has been at the forefront of securing government grants for our EFL members, since they had been sent home, with no source of income, due to the closure of schools.
In the mean time, the UPE, who is the sole trade union in Malta representing this vital sector within the Maltese economy, has been making inroads by recruiting teachers and encouraging activists to take a stance against the relentless abuse of employers, who have been taking advantage of non-unionised teachers for years.
Precarious working conditions and zero-hour contracts have become the norm over the past years, but now with the UPE in the picture, we are hoping to see positive change happening within the coming months and years.
It is with pride that we can announce that UPE has already claimed recognition in some schools, and hopefully, this will transcend to other workplaces.
Both the UPE and the TEFL Workers Union share the same values, those of solidarity and organising its members. It is for this reason that we seek further collaboration with the TEFL Workers Union so as to strengthen our moves and create the change which is so necessary to ensure better working conditions.
We also believe that together we can be the catalyst of change within this sector by sharing experience andresources in the best way possible.
We realise that these are not easy times for Trade Union activists, especially after having been informed by your good selves that there has been a significant number of redundancies in the sector. To these your members, we would like to send a message of encouragement, exhorting them to stay strong and to assist the TEFL Workers Union to the best of their abilities, this too will pass and there will be brighter days ahead.
We look forward to setting a time and date for a conference call with you and your colleagues so as to strengthen this essential collaboration.
Fraternal Greetings,
Graham Sansone
EXECUTIVE HEAD
Email: gsansone [at] upevow [dot] com Mobile: +356 79936582