The University of Santo Tomas said that it “consistently allocated” the 70% tuition fee increase for faculty and staff salary upgrades in compliance with relevant laws.

“The claim that faculty salaries remain stagnant despite tuition increases misrepresents the facts,” the University said in a statement released on Thursday, March 13, to address the issue.

The University said its allocations are based on Republic Act 6728 and Commission on Higher Education Memorandum Order No. 8 of 2012.

“Despite the length of the negotiation process, the University remains committed to distributing the tuition fee increase shares of academic staff in strict compliance with legal and regulatory requirements,” it added.

USTFU declares deadlock on CBA negotiations

The University’s statement came a day after a majority of USTFU members rejected the management’s CBA proposals.

After a two-day voting period from March 10 to 11, 680 out of 1,193, or 57%, of eligible members voted “no” to the management’s counteroffer. Meanwhile, 400 members voted to accept the management’s final proposal, while 113 votes were invalid. Turnout for the deadlock referendum reached 88%.

A deadlock happens when negotiations between a labor union and management stall over disagreements. This is the third time since 1989 and 2014 that CBA negotiations between management and the faculty union reached a deadlock.

USTFU met with the University management on March 14 and announced the deadlock vote, which comes after a year of negotiations for the 2021-2026 CBA.

Faculty union president Asst. Prof. Emerito Gonzales said that USTFU presented the result of the vote and declared the deadlock during the meeting with management.

“Clarificatory lang gagawin, not refuting anything sa mga sinabi nila,” Gonzales said. “More on presentation nalang sa kanila [nung mga results] because they also want to limit us with the TFI [tuition fee increase]. Kami naman, umaasa na madagdagan pa ‘yung benefits outside the TFI.“

The union will then file a notice of strike to the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) on March 24.

When a notice of strike is submitted, management and the union are required to observe a 30-day cooling-off period, where a conciliator-mediator with the NCMB will facilitate negotiations between the union and management. If the deadlock is not resolved within the 30-day period, there shall be a further seven-day strike ban where marathon negotiations will take place.

The DOLE secretary may also intervene and assume jurisdiction of the issue to prevent a strike.

Contentious provisions

The CBA negotiations stalled over the management’s offer of a P17 million allocation from tuition fee increases to pay for salaries of faculty members who have finished postgraduate studies, rose in rank from the instructor level, and are productive in research.

The union and management disagreed on the point of where additional salaries for rank upgrades should be charged to. Management insisted it be charged to proceeds from tuition fee increases, while the union wanted it to be charged from available University funds, saying that this is a management expense.

“This salary upgrade is a form of a corrective measure; hence, this TFI share should be sourced from the University’s fund. Sila ang magpapaupgrade ng faculty’s salaries,” Asst. Prof. Maria Victoria Bongar, the Union’s panel member, said.

USTFU proposed P26 million for the salary rank upgrades to be sourced from available University funds. However, management insisted it be taken from proceeds of tuition fee increases, and the two sides negotiated the P17 million offer that would have been taken from proceeds of tuition fee increases.

Senior High School faculty members would have received P1.5 million in this offer, significantly down from the P10.5 million allocated to them in the original proposal.

“May in- earmark sila [Senior High School Faculty] na P10.5 million. The offer to reduce the salary increase did not actually come from the union; sila [Senior High School Faculty] talaga yung final na nagsabi na nagbaba na P1.5 million na lang,” Bongar said.

“Kahit noon pa, nagdi -disagree kami [USTFU] kasi dapat itong si Senior High School salary improvement should be from the University pero they continued to insist on that pero kasi yung CBA ay for 2021-2024, but we can talk it out in the renegotiation,” she added.

The management also offered a P50,000 increase to the current P100,000 medical benefit available to all members, as well as a P100,000 increase on the current P200,000 critical illness benefit.

USTFU pushed for 100% coverage of medical procedures, much like the University’s agreement with the Ugnayan ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa ng UST Hospital. However, management rejected this proposal.