Friday, July 23, 2004 As talks failed, Ateneo teachers go on strike By Aurea A. Gerundio
DAVAO CITY -- Classes might be disrupted Friday in Davao City's biggest university, following a decision of its union to go on strike after a deadlock in negotiations with the school administration.
Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) union president Virginia T. Camus said all attempts to reach a compromise agreement with school management in the presence of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board proved futile.
Ateneo officials, however, assured parents that there will be classes in all school levels on Friday.
Camus, president of the Ateneo de Davao Employees-Federation of Free Workers (ADD-FWW), said management and union members failed to agree during mediation talks held July 20 and 21; hence, the decision to proceed with the strike.
The union has 180 school personnel members, 116 of whom are with the grade school unit in Matina while 64 are with the college unit in the Jacinto campus.
Camus said one of their demands is for the Ateneo administration to recall the termination of two pre-school and two college librarians, her included.
"Wala pa ring nangyaring agreement. Kung anu-ano pang legalities ang sinasabi ng administration," Camus said. (We've reached no agreement. The school administration is citing legalities.)
Other issues raised by union members with management in their notice of strike filed July 6: termination of union president; termination of three union member-librarians; union busting and continued harassment of union officers and members; gross violation of collective bargaining agreement on working schedule, and creation of a new category of positions and violation of the assumption of orders dated February 11, 2003 and June 4, 2004.
Camus said the July 6 notice of strike was the fourth filed since 2001. The first three did not develop into a strike after collective bargaining agreements were reached between the union and management.
The union is calling on the students and parents to support the teacher's strike by not going to school.
A representative of the university president, however, said there was no reason for the rhythm of university work to be interrupted by the strike.
Nilda J. Ginete, officer in charge at the office of the Ateneo president, said "the union membership includes only regular teachers at the grade school level and the regular non-teaching staff of the university--less than 25 percent of the total workforce of the community."
"(Unionists) do not have the right to block the entry and exit points of the school," she said.
Ginete added the university stands committed to ensuring the safety of all and delivering uninterrupted service to the students and the public.
Amid the furor over the strike, some parents are complaining that the university president is not even around to answer the concerns of teachers and non-teaching staff of the school.
The university president is reportedly on official business in Canada.
The parents, in a letter, urge fellow parents "to act now to protect their children."
"We believe that the unfair dismissal specially of the regular teachers leaves us with only the casual ones to teach our children," they said in a letter. "What can we expect from the casual teachers."
The group also lamented the low pay that regular AdDU teachers receive.
"While the school charges the highest tuition fee among Davao schools, it pays the lowest to its teachers," they added.
The group called for unity and support for the strike, which they said is a justified one.
Among those terminated by the school was Camus, union president. Camus said she was informed of her termination through a letter from university president Fr. Edmundo M. Martinez on June 30. In the letter, Martinez told her that her position as Indexer Librarian has become unnecessary and redundant and that there is no other position to which she could be transferred.
Camus accused the Ateneo administration of grossly violating its collective bargaining agreement with the union, saying teachers now have to spend about eight hours in school instead of six hours and 40 minutes only.
"And then they are creating another category of teachers, which is the Ignatian Associates. In that new category sinasabi na hindi daw time-bound ang teacher. Dito involved 'yung nine teachers na na-terminate after withdrawing membership as Ignatian Associates. That is clearly a form of union busting," Camus said.
Among the other terminated regular employees from June 26 to 30 are pre-school librarians Greta Mae Griņo and Helen Gaspar, and Ma Luisa Villaflor, library assistant at the college unit.
(July 23, 2004 issue) Write letter to the editor.Click here. Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here.
Wage hike 'better than allowance'