A COALITION of educators in the private school sector expressed their concerns over mass layoffs, loss of income and alleged “flawed” issuances by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
“While we understand the adversities faced by administration in the private colleges and universities, we are nonetheless concerned at actual and threatened retrenchments of employees, reduction of wages and benefits, denigration of job security and lack of worker voice in the policies being crafted,” said Professor Rene Luis Tadle, lead convenor of the Coalition of Teachers and Staff of Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (CoTeSCUP).
In a webinar and online press conference Wednesday, August 12, CoTeSCUP aired its demands to school administrations and the government while asking for the withdrawal of DOLE issuances DO 213, LA 17 and LA 9.
“Indeed private schools will incur losses due to the impact of Covid. But these losses are not substantial as to cause any potential risk of financial distress, unless management can prove otherwise through an objective assessment of its financial condition. We call for a stop or timeout on layoffs and wage cuts in private schools,” Tadle said in a statement.
Earlier, Tadle spoke at the Senate hearing on pending bills about online classes and assistance to private schools, raising the concerns about pedagogy such as online class size and labor grievances like retrenchments of faculty and staff.
"School administrators often renege on their constitutionally-mandated obligation to include labor unions in the decision-making process for school policies, especially with regard to adjustments due to the pandemic," he said in a statement.
"This is one of the root causes of the confusion and dilemma experienced by the employees, despite union officers exerting all efforts to communicate with management to include them in crafting policy," added Tadle.
According to the coalition, they sent letters and position papers to the Senate, House of Representatives, DOLE, Commission on Higher Education, Department of Education and the Inter Agency Task Force to ask for government intervention in the education sector amidst growing concerns regarding policies and readjustments to be implemented in the upcoming opening of classes.
While they supported the state aid to private education through the proposed Bayanihan 2, CoTeSCUP stressed that “it must be conditional on a no-layoff commitment from school administration.” (SunStar Philippines)