THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas Faculty Union (USTFU) is set to vote on the renegotiated collective bargaining agreement (CBA) after the University and the union panel sealed the deal covering Academic Years (AY) 2024-2025 and 2025-2026.
Ratification will be done online for the deal providing for a 1.31% increase in salaries per teaching unit for AY 2024-2025 and 1.81% for AY 2025-2026.
The two parties held talks from April 24 to May 15 and signed a memorandum of agreement on May 22.
READ: UST, faculty union, strike new deal on salary hikes, higher benefits
Under the deal, a total of P66.9 million from the tuition hike of the last two academic years will be allocated to faculty members as part of economic benefits.
The projected back wages of University-level faculty members for the last two years of the CBA range from P51,714 to P98,678, according to USTFU.
Also included in the agreement were benefits and salary caps for National Service Training Program facilitators, mental health leave, an increase in the eyeglass benefit, medical cash support for dependents, and adjusted bonuses for St. Thomas Day and USTFU Day.
Academic staff will get a one-time technology support sourced from UST’s own funds and not from tuition collections.
The ratification process, rolled out through Google Forms, began on June 9 and will end on June 10.
In an online general assembly on June 9, USTFU President Emerito Gonzales said the ratification would point to “principled cooperation” in upholding the rights and welfare of the members.
“[Let] us remember: what we affirm is not only a renegotiated agreement. We also affirm a way of proceeding as a union—clear in principle, firm in conviction, and open to dialogue when dialogue is real,” he said.
Gonzales also announced preparations for the negotiation of the next CBA covering 2026 to 2031.
Negotiated every five years, the CBA is a contract between management and unionized employees laying down the terms and conditions of work. Economic benefits are renegotiated at midpoint.
