Classes and other campus operations won’t be affected by the deadlock in the ongoing collective bargaining agreement (CBA) on the tuition hike share of faculty members, the UST administration said.
“We assure the entire Thomasian community that this impasse will not disrupt classes or University operations,” the University said in a statement released on Saturday, March 15.
A deadlock occurs when a labor union and the administration have not reached an agreement.
The UST Faculty Union (USTFU) formally declared a deadlock last March 14 through a letter to management head Prof. Cheryl Peralta. The declaration was made after the majority of its members rejected the benefits package offered by the UST management and supported a deadlock during a voting held from March 10 to 11.
The USTFU panel said it would file a strike notice to the Department of Labor and Employment National Conciliation and Mediation Board (DOLE-NCMB) if the deadlock remains after a five-day “cooling period.”
In the event of a strike notice, DOLE-NCMB will serve as mediator for the two parties to reach an agreement within 30 days.
A possible strike vote within the faculty members’ union may take place on April 24 and may be followed by a strike in May if the talks remain unresolved based on a tentative timeline of events by the USTFU.
The USTFU panel is calling for the release of 89% or about P220 million of the faculty’s tuition hike share from AY 2020-2021 to AY 2023-2024. According to the group, the University has the “moral and legal obligation” to do so.
It is also seeking a deal on the allocation of the tuition increase shares on hospitalization benefits, rank upgrade, Christmas bonus, emergency loan, longevity pay, return service after extended leave, unused sick leave conversion, salary improvement of National Service Training Program facilitators, vacation leave for non-teaching personnel, release of 11th and 12th month pay to tenured faculty and paid time offs for junior high school faculty.
The faculty union’s previous requests to partially release tuition hike shares were rejected by the University management due to the absence of a complete CBA. Peralta had said such an agreement would serve as the basis for the shares’ distribution.
The law mandates that 70% of the tuition hike increase shall go to the payment of salaries, wages, allowances and other benefits of teaching and non-teaching personnel “and may be used to cover increases as provided for in the collective bargaining agreements.”
Despite the impasse in the CBA talks, the University said it remains open to negotiate with the faculty union.
“While the University pursues all available legal and ethical remedies, it remains open to dialogue with USTFU to uphold industrial peace,” it said.
“We stand in solidarity with all University stakeholders in hoping and praying for a just and swift resolution to the CBA deadlock.” F
