A FACULTY union party has vowed to address delays in collective bargaining agreement (CBA) talks with the administration through year-round preparations and negotiation training.
UST Faculty Union President Emerito Gonzales, standard-bearer of Sulong party, said his group had learned from the lapses of previous negotiators for the CBA, a contract that provides for the terms and conditions of work.
“The past set of union CBA panels, and [the] UST [administration] mismo got used to very delayed negotiations,” Gonzales told the Varsitarian.
“If we, the Sulong team, wins, CBA preparations will be year-round, ensuring on-time CBA negotiations and renegotiations,” he added.
He said union negotiators, officers and directors would undergo special CBA negotiation training with the party’s legal advisers.
Assoc. Prof. Rene Luis Tadle, candidate for executive vice president, said the party would initiate discussions on the next CBA at least six months before the existing 2021-2026 agreement ends.
“[The] CBA committee must function all year round so that they can gather research to shape the proposal. And also, the CBA will be negotiated such that even before the current CBA ends, puwede na mag-negotiate,” Tadle said during the April 11 press conference of Sulong.
In June 2025, faculty members ratified a new salary and benefits deal, which includes hospitalization coverage and a P220-million share in tuition increases from Academic Years 2021-2022 and 2023-2024.
Tadle also highlighted issues of academic freedom, citing the administration’s Institutional Standards of Professional Ethics (ISPE) released last year.
“That discussion will continue because we have to understand that the CBA is not just economic. It’s also political,” he said.
The 14-article ISPE tightens rules on outside work and faculty conduct and is said to be in conflict with some CBA provisions, raising concerns among faculty members.
The University later agreed to hold dialogues with the faculty union to clarify provisions of the professional ethics document.
The Sulong group also flagged a provision in the CBA where faculty would lose their tenured or regular status if their teaching load fell below 15 units.
Sulong called for the reinstatement of faculty union representation in the Academic Senate, citing the importance of the union’s participation in University policy discussions.
Gonzales, a philosophy faculty member, won the USTFU presidency in 2021. Some of the biggest issues during his presidency were the controversial Manila health permit requirement and the CBA ratification, which nearly led to a strike.
He is running against Prof. Revenendo Vargas of the Faculty for Academic Integrity and Rights party, whom he defeated in the 2021 USTFU elections.
Voting for the new set of USTFU officers and board members is set on April 28 and 29. With reports from Divina Eloisa P. Meguines and Joachim Nigel Z. Tanglao
