Wednesday, June 01, 2005
University's labor-management negotiation fails
By Jay Dooma Balnig
* Reinstatement is unacceptable to them, says Theodore Neil Lasola, president of USA Employees Union-Federation of Free Workers
* But Mayor Jerry Treņas says he is still optimistic both parties will be able to reach an agreement should they agree to hold another round of talks
THE three and a half-hour dialogue between University of San Agustin (USA) president, Rev. Fr. Manuel Vergara, and the terminated union officers Monday afternoon failed.
Reinstatement is unacceptable to them, said Theodore Neil Lasola, president of USA Employees Union-Federation of Free Workers, Monday night.
Lasola said it was not only Vergara who refused to heed their appeal for reinstatement but also several other priests who were present during the meeting, held from 2:30 to 6 p.m., in a venue inside the campus.
Neither Vergara nor any other Augustinian priest was available for comment.
They were one in saying that they wouldn't allow a reinstatement, Lasola said, adding that one priest even said they should thank Vergara for waiting two years before terminating them. "The priest said if he were in Fr. Vergara's shoes, he would have terminated us immediately (after the September 2003 strike)."
"That's how brutal they are," Lasola said. "Daw indi pare, daw indi tawo (It seems that they are not priests, that they are not human)."
According to the union president, no negotiation took place because the Augustinian priests' minds were already closed to the possibility of reinstating their services as faculty members.
Lasola added: "We we're shocked. Insulto pa naabutan namon (We we're only insulted)."
He said apparently the priests' statements were "dictated by their lawyer" who was just in another room during the meeting even though Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treņas, who brokered the meeting, instructed both parties to exclude their respective lawyers in the negotiation.
"We are pushed to the wall. We will continue our strike and moving picket," he said.
Optimistic
Treņas, for his part, said he is still optimistic both parties will be able to reach an agreement should they agree to hold another round of talks.
The mayor said he is eyeing another meeting with the two groups but has not scheduled a date yet.
Lasola and 21 other teachers were terminated last April 5 after the Court of Appeals handed down its ruling, declaring the union's strike in September 2003 as illegal.
Also terminated are: Flaviano Manalo, Rene Cabalum, Ma. Luz Calzado, Ray Anthony Zuņiga, Rizalene Villanueva, Rudante Dolar, Merlyn Jara, Monaliza Bautista, Ma. Connie Alger, Maximo Montero, Apolbin de Asis, Rover John Tavarro, Alfredo Goriona, Julius Mario, John Mirasol, Mermenegildo Calzado, Danilo Lee Pac Hee, Nelza Laurea, and Rena Lete.
(May 31, 2005 issue)
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