UST Faculty Union (USTFU) President Dr. George Lim has threatened to remove elected negotiators of the union for the 2016 to 2021 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the University administration, for causing “unnecessary delay” amid questions about his inclusion as chairman of the negotiating panel.
In a letter dated June 21, Lim gave negotiators Jose Ngo Jr., Edilberto Gonzaga, Rebecca Adri, Michelle Desierto and Emerito Gonzales three working days to submit their explanations for “forging disunity in our Union, both constituting acts inimical to the interest and welfare of our Union.”
“Please explain in writing within three working days upon receipt of this letter… why you should not be removed from the panel of negotiators for betraying our collective bargaining law (CBL) provisions and forging disunity in our Union, both constituting acts inimical to the interest and welfare of our Union,” Lim said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Varsitarian.
The negotiators, who were elected last May 28, had contested the inclusion of Lim as head of the negotiating panel, because he was not elected as a negotiator by the general assembly.
The five staged a walkout after USTFU Treasurer Joyce Tan moved for the approval of the resolution naming Lim as head of the negotiating panel in a meeting last May 31.
READ: Faculty members elect CBA negotiators; inclusion of union president questioned
Article 13, Section 1 of the faculty union’s charter states that “Collective bargaining for and in behalf of the general membership shall be undertaken by the Board of Officers through a negotiating panel the members of which shall be duly elected by the general membership.”
Ngo, who got the highest votes in the election, said Lim was “usurping a power” that belongs to the general membership of the faculty union by threatening to remove elected negotiators.
“How could he (Lim) possibly remove us when we were elected by the general membership? So it is only the general membership that can remove us. He must pinpoint to us a mandate in the CBL that he has powers to remove members of the CBA panel. If he cannot [do that], I think he is usurping a power that belongs to the general membership,” Ngo said in an interview on Thursday.
The negotiators maintained that they would only recognize Lim’s authority to head the panel if he would subject himself to an election, as mandated by USTFU’s constitution and by-laws.
“If he (Lim) believes that he is really the [chairman] of the panel, what we are asking is just a general assembly. Why won’t he call a general assembly? Or he might as well hold a plebiscite. If the faculty members want him to be the chairman or member of the panel of negotiators, then let the faculty members decide. After that, we rest our case,” Desierto said.
Lim has yet to comment as of posting time. —with reports from Kevin A. Alabaso
