UST wins, loses labor suits vs profs

LABOR officials have ruled against the University over illegal dismissal cases filed by former instructors of the College of Fine Arts and Design (CFAD) over the “no master’s, no teaching load policy.”

In a 14-page resolution last April 13, the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) ruled in favor of Raymund Antiola, Raymond Son, and Wilfredo Pollarco, who were dismissed for refusing to sign an agreement which required professors without master’s degrees to sign waivers renouncing their right to tenureship.

The three were ordered reinstated and given around P1.2 million in backwages and moral damages. The three sued UST for unfair labor practice and illegal dismissal in July last year.

The three declined to talk about the decision.

UST’s in-house legal counsel, Arsenik Pagaduan, said the University has filed a motion for reconsideration before the NLRC.

“UST also has many options on their reinstatement, but for now, we’ll have to wait for the decision,” Pagaduan said.

Last year, the UST administration required non-tenured faculty members without master’s degrees to sign waivers renouncing their right to tenureship at the start of the academic year, following the University’s move to strictly enforce a Commission on Higher Education (Ched) memorandum requiring all college teachers to have master’s degrees.

Antiola, Pollarco, and Son claimed that signing the waiver would violate their rights guaranteed in the Colective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). They were given termination letters soon after, and they sued the University for unfair labor practice and illegal dismissal.

Reynaldo Reyes, UST Faculty Union vice president for grievance and complaints, said the decision reflected the union’s position from the start.

“The decision speaks for itself,” Reyes said.

The resolution also said that no waivers should have been issued when UST decided to implement the Ched memo.

“If respondents had genuinely intended to follow to the memo, then no exceptions should have been made,” it said.

NLRC also found the University liable to unfair labor practice as there was a refusal to follow contractual stipulations in the CBA.

Son iwas ordered to be paid backwages of P357,841. Pollarco, meanwhile, should receive P408,961, and Antiola, P460,081.

Winner

Meanwhile, UST won two separate illegal dismissal suits filed by former instructors Buen Franklin Anthony Calubayan of CFAD and Dianne Gene Aquino from the College of Commerce and Business Administration.

Calubayan was dismissed for allegedly disregarding the University’s by-laws after some officials questioned his paintings that portrayed atheistic themes during an exhibit in the campus.

“[I]t must be borne to mind that [Calubayan] is not merely an artist, but more importantly, a teacher; an instructor of UST, a Catholic university,” the court order said.

Meanwhile, Aquino’s complaint said the University “illegally” terminated her as instructor and that the semesters when she had full teaching loads were grounds for her not to be dismissed.

“Although the available evidence show that Aquino has indeed rendered service of six consecutive terms, with a full-time teaching load of more than fifteen (15 units starting the second semester of AY 2004-2005 until the first semester of AY 2007-2008, the same did not amount to an automatic conversion of her contractual, non-tenurial appointment to a regular, tenurial status,” the court said.

But according to Commerce officials, her behavior as instructor was the reason for her dismissal.

Aquino incurred numerous and unexplained absences and did not submit preliminary grades of students for a particular semester on time and exempted all students enrolled in a subject she handled in the subject Total Quality Management from taking its final examination.