Tuesday, November 28, 2006 San Agustin picket area faces demolition By Lory Ann B. Bilbao and Jay Dooma Balnig
CITED as economic hazards, the strike materials used by the University of San Agustin Employees Union (USAEU) in front of the university will be abolished.
The City Legal Office (CLO) said the materials, which were left standing outside the school campus beside its front fence along General Luna Street, for 583 days now, should be gotten rid of.
The city feels that the streamers, which called for the reinstatement of the employees and condemned USA priest and President, Fr. Manuel Vergara, give a bad light to the city apart from its road safety concerns.
It was in 2003 when 336 of the school employees decided to hold a strike against the school administration following a deadlock in the negotiations of their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The employees demanded for their 70 percent share from the tuition fee increase from 2003 to 2005 or P38 million, which the management refused to give because its financial position can't afford it.
Foul move
Theodore Niel Lasola, USAEU president protested the said move claiming that the move of City Legal Officer Edgardo Gil is foul and not in accordance with labor law.
Lasola added that it is very clear that the court did not mention or declare that their picket at the university gate is illegal.
Last April, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled in favor of the management but the striking members of the union won't vacate the picket area.
During the interview with the union members, they claimed that after the legal battle on the declaration of their September 19, 2003 strike as illegal, the fight is not yet over.
Lasola asserted then that they will file a motion for reconsideration before SC.
