(UPDATED, March 15, 2025)
EVERY five years, employers with unionized workers negotiate a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to set the terms and conditions of employment, including salary increases, benefits, and working hours.
But in UST, faculty CBAs have historically been delayed, often finalized only in the later years of their coverage. The 2021-2026 CBA remains unsettled despite already being in the penultimate year.
This is because administration and union negotiators remain at odds over two major economic benefits: hospitalization and a proposed P17-million “rank upgrade” or salary restructuring for certain faculty members.
UST management wants the salary upgrade taken from the faculty’s mandatory 70% share in tuition hikes. But the faculty union wants its tuition share intact and insists the administration should shoulder the cost of rank upgrades using accumulated earnings, given that promotions are the prerogative of management.
On March 10, the 1,400-strong faculty voted to reject UST’s “final offer” and declare a deadlock in CBA negotiations.
READ: Faculty union sets vote on UST admin’s ‘final offer’ on delayed salary, benefits deal
To understand the concept and implications of a deadlock, the Varsitarian spoke with legal and labor experts on what could happen next.
What is a deadlock?
In collective bargaining, a deadlock occurs when negotiations hit an impasse, meaning both sides cannot agree on key terms, and further discussions seem unproductive. Either party can declare this when all means have been exhausted in negotiations.
The National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), in its Manual of Procedures for Conciliation and Preventive Mediation Cases, defines deadlock as the “situation in a collective bargaining negotiations wherein parties have not reached a mutually acceptable settlement.”
Roderick Almeyda, the executive labor arbiter of the National Labor Relations Commission Region 3, said that once a deadlock is declared, it officially becomes a “legitimate industrial dispute.”
“[Once] there [is] an impasse, meaning a total breakdown of collective bargaining in negotiations, and it can no longer be resolved by any means through the bargaining table, so either party may declare a bargaining deadlock,” Almeyda told the Varsitarian.
“Normally, it’s due to some economic provisions of the [CBA],” he added.
Asst. Prof. Danielito Jimenez, who teaches labor law at the UST Department of Legal Management, said there is nothing unusual or alarming about a deadlock, as government mechanisms exist to handle such situations.
“In other words, this should be welcome and even [be deemed] usual in a failed negotiation — something that both parties should not be fearful about,” Jimenez, a former president of the Arts and Letters Faculty Club, told the Varsitarian.
On Nov. 22, union negotiators declared a deadlock with the UST administration panel, citing unresolved issues over benefits and salary upgrades.
USTFU President Emerito Gonzales sought to formalize this declaration in the March 10 vote among union members. This marked the third deadlock in UST faculty CBA history.
On March 14, USTFU made a formal declaration of a deadlock, which UST confirmed in a statement the following day.
In 1989, a deadlock led to a faculty strike, with professors staging a mass leave to protest the deduction of Christmas bonuses from P35 million in economic benefits. The dispute was settled the following year with a P7-million compromise.
In 2014, the USTFU panel also declared a deadlock and filed a notice of strike but this was broken through backchannel talks.
What happens if a deadlock is declared?
Declaring a deadlock brings two “huge risks of work stoppage,” according to Almeyda: a strike, when faculty members refuse to work as a form of protest, or lockout, when employers temporarily refuse to give their employees work.
These two are “weapons” both parties carry when entering a CBA negotiation, though they are considered last-resort options. A deadlock could also result in the NCMB stepping in to guide the parties to a compromise.
“In reality, when declaring a deadlock or a bargaining deadlock is resorted to, this would also present an opportunity for both parties to be guided by the NCMB, which is mainly tasked to explore other means and methods by which the concerned employer and bargaining agent of the employees will be able to come into terms or simply enter into a compromise,” Jimenez said.
The NCMB was established under Executive Order 126 by the Corazon Aquino administration in 1987 to develop plans and programs and establish standards and procedures in settling labor disputes.
A five-day cooling-off period follows the CBA deadlock, after which the union may file a notice of strike if the deadlock is not resolved.
The notice of strike or lockout or a request for preventive mediation assistance must be filed with the NCMB regional branch or an extension office that has jurisdiction over the union members’ workplace.
USTFU said the notice would be filed by March 24.
“The NCMB, after the filing of a notice of strike, will have to do everything within [its] power to prevent the happening of the strike or the lockout,” Almeyda explained. “Either way, both parties must exert all their efforts toward reaching an amicable settlement.”
“The strike or lockout should be and must be their last resort in resolving it,” he added.
Will UST profs go on strike?
For a strike to happen, it must first be voted upon by a majority of USTFU members through a meeting or referendum specifically called for this purpose. A formal request must also be filed with the NCMB regional branch at least 24 hours before the scheduled vote.
UST’s faculty CBA does not have a no-strike clause.
Jimenez, however, believes a strike is unlikely, noting that government mediation usually succeeds in preventing such efforts.
“Based on my experience as a labor lawyer in similar cases, as long as both [sides] will keep an open mind and will go through the process, I do not see any potential risk,” Jimenez said.
“Both mechanisms are recognized by law but given the anticipated mediation, it is highly possible that these options of strike and lockout would not be necessary or may be preempted,” he added.
Even in 2019, when UST Hospital workers filed a notice of strike, the dispute was ultimately resolved through a new CBA.
Pressure is mounting on both the faculty union and the UST administration to strike a deal as the CBA approaches its final years of coverage. Some faculty members have pointed out to the Varsitarian that the delays have historically presented a double whammy — inflation and tax.
With years of no salary increases, faculty members were unable to benefit from increased purchasing power. And when delayed CBAs were finally ratified, lump-sum adjustments were subjected to higher tax rates under higher income brackets.
If the USTFU votes for a deadlock and the NCMB intervenes, there is no definite time as to when this is resolved, meaning faculty members will continue facing the consequences of a delayed CBA.
“There is no hard and fast rule as to how many months, how many years for it to be resolved. But one thing is sure: it will be treated with utmost priority, especially ‘pag nag-assume ng jurisdiction ‘yong Secretary of Labor and Employment,” Almeyda said.
If a strike happens, the government has another trump card: the Labor Code allows the Secretary of Labor to “assume jurisdiction” over the labor dispute in industries considered “indispensable to the national interest.” The labor chief will then make a final decision on the salaries and benefits package, often ruling in favor of workers.
This happened in UST during the 1989 strike that resulted in the dismissal of 16 union officials, with Labor Secretary Ruben Torres eventually producing a compromise CBA.
“As long as the parties agree to discuss this on the table there will always be enough time. But as soon as one of the parties gives up then this government intervention may be terminated in which case as I have explained, there will be processes before a strike or lockout may occur,” Jimenez said.
