The clock has started ticking on a potential strike at the University of Asia and the Pacific, after its faculty and staff unions submitted a strike vote last week – starting a seven-day countdown before the two unions can officially walk out.
The vote to strike by the UA and P Union of Faculty Members and the UA and P Union of Allied Employees caps months of failed negotiations in which management reportedly offered free meals and a 1-2% salary increase over three years – proposals the unions say fall short amid the rising costs of living.
The two unions submitted the strike vote to the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) on October 24 after the school’s management reportedly offered no new counteroffer at a mediation session.
The mediation meeting was presided over by the office of the DOLE Secretary and NCMB executive director.
“After receiving no new counteroffer from UA and P management during the conference. both unions decided to file their respective strike vote reports,” the two unions said in a statement sent to Philstar.com on Sunday, October 26.
“This act triggers the seven-day period before both unions can legally strike,” the two unions said.
This means that by November 3, the two unions at the UA and P can officially begin carrying out the strike.
Months of stalled talks
The unions said in their joint statement that they have ‘extended much forbearance’ in months of negotiations to secure “collective and much-needed improvements in salaries and benefits.’
A deadlock in negotiations was declared on June 25. In July, the unions sought preventive mediation ‘to exhaust all peaceful channels of resolving this deadlock’ before filing notices of strike on August 7 and 8. Even after the 30-day cooling-off period expired, they continued to attend conciliation meetings, ‘waiting for management to submit substantive counteroffers,’ the unions said.
When none came, the unions pushed through with their strike votes – held on September 24 for UA and PUAE and September 25 for UA and PUFM. An NCMB representative observed both votes. ‘Almost 90% of union members voted to proceed with the strike,’ the unions said.
What’s on the table
According to the two unions on Sunday, the university has maintained throughout negotiations that UA and P salaries are “above industry standards” and that the university’s financial situation prevents it from granting benefit increases.
The unions say they have repeatedly countered these claims “in various platforms using verifiable facts and evidence.”
In September, the university reportedly proposed converting free meals into P6,600 cash annually and reportedly adjusting pay scales for some employees. The unions told Philstar.com this was “distortionary given that not all will be adjusted.”
“The reality is that UA and P employees continue to struggle amidst rising standards of living and persistent threat of health emergencies, which further put a strain on their families’ already meager resources,” the unions said in Sunday’s statement. “The provision of free lunch and 1-2% salary increase [in a span of three years] will not solve these problems.”
Philstar.com has sought the comment of the university management and will update this article with their response.
In an August statement to Philstar.com, the university’s management committee said personnel costs already consume 74% of its tuition revenue – higher than the 52% benchmark it cited from “some leading universities in the country.”
Students at UA and P pay tuition fees of about P125,000 to P152,000 per semester, depending on their degree program and units taken. The school has about 2,000 students.
The university told Philstar.com it had agreed to most non-economic benefits sought by the unions but could not commit to additional salary and benefit increases. It offered counterproposals on economic benefits “within our financial capacity” before negotiations collapsed.
‘Priority to people’
UA and PUFM President Ferdinand delos Reyes invoked Catholic social teaching – which UA and P emphasizes in its programs – in appealing to management.
‘Management should see by now that employees would not have formed the unions had we not had real needs and work-related concerns that needed addressing,” Delos Reyes said, adding that these concerns affected both the university’s employees and their families.
“As teachers and employees, we’ve taught and learned of the social teachings of the Church which our institution holds true and dear,” Delos Reyes said. “We enjoin management to act on the spirit contained in those social teachings, giving priority to people, to persons and their welfare.”
UA and PUAE President Keith Panganiban described the strike as a last resort after years of stagnant pay.
“Our movement did not arise from hate and hostility but from years of quiet endurance – of dedicated service, delayed fairness, and hope for shared progress,” Panganiban said. “UA and PUAE’s aim has never been to disrupt or divide, but to restore balance, justice, and respect to every worker who make UA and P great.”
Both faculty and staff unions “maintain that improvements in human capital are long-term investments to the competitiveness of their beloved institution,” the statement read.
“UA and P cannot aim to be a prestigious and premium university if it does not invest in the people who make it happen. This strike is both unions’ final attempt to fight for the people who embody the educational principles that make the university great,” it added.
Next steps. Under the Labor Code, a strike may proceed only after the seven-day waiting period expires and further mediation efforts are completed.
Both unions said they will ‘continue to update their stakeholders in the coming days’ as they prepare for possible strike action. No date has been set for the strike.
UA and PUFM represents rank-and-file faculty members of UA and P, while UA and PUAE represents administrative and non-teaching academic staff.