COLLECTIVE bargaining negotiations between faculty members and the administration have been put on hold as UST undergoes a leadership transition.
The UST Faculty Union (USTFU) said it had received a letter last March from then UST rector Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P. saying talks for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) would have to wait until new officials assume their posts.
With the appointment of Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P. as the new Rector of the University, USTFU President George Lim said a new CBA, outlining higher salaries and benefits would soon be discussed.
USTFU has been unable to start work on the CBA following the election of new officials in August 2011 and the resignation of De la Rosa last March.
“We have agreed that all benefits that we would receive from the new CBA would be retroactive to June 2011,” Lim told the Varsitarian. “So kahit ma-delay, hindi naman masyadong masakit.”
The union has also been waiting for data from the Office of the Vice Rector for Finance, which will be used as basis for the economic benefit proposal for faculty members.
“We have formally asked for information quite a number of times,” said Rene Luis Tadle, USTFU internal vice president.
Article XXI or the “Accounting Transparency” section of the 2006 to 2011 CBA requires the UST administration to provide the union with the breakdown of tuition and other fees, the number of students per year level, and number of units enrolled in each faculty or college on a semestral basis, including summer. Also to be provided are the loading forms of all faculty members per semester including summer, and annual audited financial statements.
“We have requested a report on the actual amount of tuition increase for academic year 2011 to 2012, as well as the projected amount from 2012 to 2014,” Tadle said.
As of press time, the Office of the Vice Rector for Finance has only supplied the distribution report of tuition increases for academic years 2009 to 2010 and 2010 to 2011, including the summary of the total teaching units of all faculty members for 2010 to 2011.
Vice Rector for Finance Fr. Manuel Roux, O.P., has yet to reply to the Varsitarian’s request for comment.
Tadle said it was too early to talk about the details of the new CBA.
“We cannot make projection yet until all the information we are requesting from the administration is in,” he said. “Salary increase does not mean necessarily significant improvement in the take-home pay of the faculty because in many cases, the increase is just [offset] by tax,” he said.
An increase in faculty benefits will affect students through tuition increases, but Tadle said the union will consider the views of all stakeholders of the University.
“The paying capacity of the students and the needs of the faculty as well as the direction of the UST administration must be looked into,” Tadle said.
By law, 70 percent of tuition increases go to salaries.
