UST faculty union files strike notice as impasse on benefits remains unresolved

THE UST Faculty Union (USTFU) lodged a notice of strike before the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Tuesday, March 25, as talks on improved salaries and benefits with the University administration remain unresolved.

Members of the faculty union gathered at the DOLE office in Intramuros, Manila, to seek the government agency’s intervention in the disputed collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

USTFU said the core of the impasse was the University’s decision to withhold the 89% or P220 million derived from the tuition hike proceeds from 2020 to 2024 until a bargaining deal is ratified.

“This amounts to economic coercion, pressuring faculty to accept inadequate terms in exchange for what is already legally due,” the faculty union said in a March 25 statement.

As mediator, the National Conciliation and Mediation Board under DOLE has 30 days to create a deal on the disputes over teachers’ benefits before USTFU can consider a strike. If the mediation board fails to reconcile both parties, a strike may take place as early as May 2, the faculty union said.

Despite legal actions already in place, USTFU president Asst. Prof. Emerito Gonzales echoed the University’s statement that the negotiations would not disrupt school operations or classes.

“It (negotiations) is a different thing. We have no intentions of disrupting the industrial operations of UST, the in-flow of people, of the hospital and you students,” Gonzales told The Flame.

Among the major requests of USTFU that were left unaddressed were the P26 million allocation for senior high school and a doctoral and master’s instructor rank upgrade, which will be sourced from UST’s other streams of income.

“The USTFU continues to call for a just and dignified resolution to this impasse. But we can no longer remain silent while the administration withholds what is legally and morally due to the faculty,” Gonzales said.

The University has refuted claims of unfair labor practices and stagnant faculty pay, saying it is dedicated to allocating the tuition hike shares among faculty members and negotiating in “good faith” to reach a fair agreement.

The Commission on Higher Education has directed UST to explain its alleged violation of laws requiring 70% of tuition hikes to be allocated to employees’ salaries in a show-cause order dated March 7. The University has 15 days to respond before the commission would proceed with “appropriate actions.”

After the union’s filing, USTFU will continue to conduct talks with different departments and faculty clubs within the University for information dissemination. It will also hold a solidarity night at the UST Plaza Mayor on March 26 to call for a “constructive engagement” between the management and the faculty. F