THREE PROVISIONS in the deadlocked collective bargaining agreement talks were settled during the second meeting of the UST management and the faculty union mediated by the labor department last April 7.
The UST Faculty Union (USTFU) said negotiators reached a settlement on the benefits in the National Service Training Program amounting to P2,000 per term, the emergency loan interest that was reduced to 4% from 6% and the 11th and 12th month pay, which will be up for renegotiation in June.
“We wanted it (interest) to be zero, but it’s not. So that’s minus 3 [unresolved items] already,” USTFU President Asst. Prof. Emerito Gonzales said during the faculty union’s solidarity night at the Quadricentennial Square on Tuesday, April 8.
Seven requests from the USTFU, including full hospitalization benefits, the P26 million rank upgrade and salary restructuring sourced from UST’s treasury and “genuine” longevity pay, remain pending.
Other unaddressed items are a P10,000 Christmas bonus raise, non-teaching vacation leave that the union wants increased to two days, compensatory time-off for junior high school teachers and the proposal to extend the unused sick leave from 15 to 20 days.
According to the faculty union, the UST management had reiterated its stance that the salary upgrade and the 100% hospitalization benefits are the only remaining issues in the talks.
Both parties agreed to continue the meeting with the mediation board on Tuesday, April 15.
According to the USTFU, the University management has urged the labor department to intervene in its dispute with the faculty union through a petition for assumption of jurisdiction.
The appeal may prevent strikes, which the faculty union said could be held as early as May 2 if the impasse remains unresolved. F
