A COLLECTIVE bargaining agreement (CBA) that would give more benefits to Thomasian teachers was finally signed by the UST administration and the UST Faculty Union (USTFU) on Friday, May 30, a week after some of its provisions were finalized.
The signing of the CBA between the University and the USTFU was announced by labor and law solicitor Batas Manggagawa in a Facebook post.
With the signing of the deal, the faculty is set to receive its P220 million worth of tuition hike shares from academic years 2021-2022 to 2023-2024.
Unreleased shares of the faculty amount to P51.45 million in 2021-2022; P63.22 million in 2022-2023; and P104.68 million in 2023-2024.
On May 21, P21.8 million of the faculty’s tuition increase share for academic year 2020-2021 that was covered by the previous CBA cycle was distributed.
However, P6 million of teachers’ share from the same academic year that was allocated for the hospitalization fund remains unreleased pending the ratification of the CBA.
Included in the CBA provisions is the union’s proposal for full hospitalization benefits for the faculty at the UST Hospital. This will replace the previous P100,000 annual medical coverage that has been implemented for 20 years.
The benefit will be under trial for the first two years of its implementation. Once it exceeds the annual P21 million spending cap, the medical coverage would revert to the UST management’s initial proposal of P150,000 and P350,000 for regular and critical illnesses, respectively.
Also in the agreement is the funding of the teaching staff’s rank upgrades and senior high school salary restructuring with their tuition increase shares from academic year 2023-2024. Future salary hikes and other benefits will no longer be charged to the faculty’s shares under the condition.
A 6% tuition hike was implemented during that academic year to fund rank upgrades. The administration had said that allocating the fund to other items would undermine the trust of the students and their families who accepted the conditions of the tuition hike.
Republic Act 6728 states that 70% of tuition hikes should be allotted to the salaries, allowances and benefits of teaching and non-teaching staff.
The signed CBA concludes the months-long labor dispute between the UST administration and USTFU.
Before the start of the next academic year, both parties will review their proposals for renegotiations on the allocation of tuition hike shares for AY 2024-2025 and 2025-2026. F – Erwin James Gianan
