The UST Faculty Union (USTFU) will hold a strike vote on Thursday, May 15, at the Medicine Auditorium, following six failed negotiations with the University management over tuition hike proceeds and benefits.
The decision came after the May 6 conciliation meeting between the USTFU and UST management, facilitated by the labor department’s National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), ended in yet another deadlock.
If the strike proceeds, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma would intervene and settle the dispute between both parties within 30 days, USTFU Emerito Gonzales said.
Despite a majority strike vote, USTFU president Asst. Prof. Emerito Gonzales said there would be no work stoppage as the labor department would have assumed jurisdiction over the dispute. If work is stopped despite the assumption of jurisdiction, the act would be deemed illegal.
USTFU member Assoc. Prof. Rene Luis Tadle said the union would continue its solidarity night outside of classes and wear black armbands during the solemn investiture rites to garner support.
In a report released by the union panel on May 10, USTFU said it had exhausted all avenues for “principled negotiation” and was left with no option but to initiate strike proceedings.
“We submitted a fair, financially reasonable, and forward-looking offer. Unfortunately, UST Management remains unwilling to meet us in the middle,” the union said.
“Therefore, we have no choice but to proceed with a strike vote, scheduled for 15 May 2025. This vote is not an act of hostility—it is an assertion of dignity, legality, and fairness. We urge our colleagues to support the strike vote and show that we will not be bullied into surrendering what is rightfully ours.”
Improved offers, no agreement
During the May 6 meeting, USTFU presented an “improved“ offer that stemmed from an extended internal consultation.
Central to its proposal was a P10.5 million salary restructuring package for the Senior High School program with a cost-sharing scheme for rank upgrades: 50% from the faculty’s shares and 50% from non-tuition hike share sources.
In response, the UST management proposed that faculty rank upgrades for the current cycle be fully funded by the tuition hike share for Academic Year 2023–2024.
The management said subsequent cycles would no longer charge rank upgrades to the tuition hike share and if any funds remain, these would be distributed as a one-time bonus to all academic staff.
USTFU proposed a full 100% hospitalization coverage for confinements at UST Hospital, with safeguards in place to cap benefits if total expenses exceeded P21 million in a year. This would ensure sustainability while offering broad medical support.
The administration rejected the proposal for permanent 100% coverage but agreed to raise base medical coverage from P100,000 to P150,000, and critical illness coverage from P300,000 to P350,000. It also increased the proposed one-time addition to the hospitalization fund from P3 million to P10 million to P7 million, of which would be sourced outside the tuition hike shares.
The two sides reached consensus in just one item: both panels agreed to grant an additional two vacation leave days to non-teaching personnel.
CHED: Dispute on allocation a ‘labor issue’
On the same day of the strike vote announcement, UST said the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has deferred the dispute on the allocation of tuition hike proceeds to the labor department and has described it as a “labor standards issue.”According to UST, the commission said no misuse of the funds was found and the issue must be resolved through the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the University management and USTFU.
The commission also deemed it “premature” to rule on violations over the schedule for distributing the faculty’s share, affirming that there has been no misuse of the allocated funds.
“As far as the records of this case are concerned, there is no showing that the 70% tuition hike allocations are being used by UST for purposes other than the improvement of the academic staff’s salaries, wages, and benefits,” CHED said in its resolution.
CHED previously issued a show-cause order to the University to explain its compliance with Republic Act 6728 (the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Act) and the commission’s guidelines on March 7.
The directive came after USTFU had requested CHED’s legal opinion and technical assistance on whether the University is legally required to release the 70% tuition hike share upon collection and without a finalized agreement between the union and the management.
‘Economic coercion’
Among the contentious items is the release of the faculty’s accumulated tuition hike shares from academic years 2021 to 2024 amounting to P220 million.
The labor union said both panels had already agreed on how these funds would be distributed, and that their release should be immediate and unconditional.
However, the UST management maintained that the funds would only be disbursed after the ratification of a proposed bargaining agreement, an approach the union has labeled as “economic coercion.”
USTFU appealed to the University leadership’s compassion, saying a timely release of the tuition hike share is essential for a faculty member’s daughter in a life-threatening condition. The Union added that further support would also help faculty members face severe medical and economic challenges.
The UST management has yet to release a response to the strike vote. F
