Teachers and students back each other in a protest rally that froze classes at the Holy Angel University in Angeles City, Pampanga over the issue of low-pay and collective barganing agreement deadlock.
Photos by Ding Cervantes
ANGELES CITY- On the eve of Pres. Aquino’s slated visit to the Holy Angel University (HAU) here, some 400 of its teachers and their sympathizing students stayed off their classes and opted for a rally demanding salary increases and transparency in the financial status of the university.
Holding placards seeking compliance of HAU officials with past agreements on salary hike, the teachers, 400 of them belonging to the HAU Teachers and Employees Union (HAUTEU), held a circular non-stop march in front of the school’s main gate as hundreds of their students watched from across the street.
The President is supposed to guest here today in time for the university’s conferment of a doctorate degree on Manila bishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle.
“My salary as a college professor is even short of P10,000 compared to the average salary of a public school teacher,” said Elvira David, secretary of the HAUTEU in an interview.
She lamented the “failure” of the HAU management to be transparent on its financial status amid reports she cited from the Securities and Exchange Commission allegedly indicating that the university’s savings had ballooned from P300 million in 2003 to about P1.4 billion last year.
David said the university management has also not fully accounted for the 70 percent allocated by law for the upgrade of the pay of teachers and other school personnel, from tuition hikes the university had implemented in the recent years.
A leaflet distributed by protesters during the rally lamented the lack of “clear and truthful re-computation by the HAU on the 70 percent.”
It noted that HAUTEA has already filed unfair labor practice against the university for ”violations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, as well as irregularities and anti-teacher and -labor practices.”
The protesters’ leaflet noted that despite the measly pay of teachers, the university has been constructing huge buildings on its campus and buying adjacent lots for expansion, “contrary to the declaration of HAU that it has been losing.”
“Some teachers did not get any pay increase last year. Some were not made regular teachers even after their probationary period. The former six hours working period for elementary and high school teachers were extended to eight hours,” it said.
It also noted “lack of consultation with the union on the granting of merit pay” and the hiring of new applicants while some personnel are “retrenched.”
“We will not stop our protest actions until the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) takes jurisdiction over our CBA deadlock,” said David.
The HAU released a statement saying it “is saddened by the decision of its 380-member union to stage a strike despite the on-going mediation efforts being assisted by the government’s labor department.”
“We would like to ask our students, their parents and the community at large to bear with us as we explore other ways to resolve this conflict and ensure that our services are not disrupted.
We would like to assure the other 500 non-union members of our workforce that classes and operations shall proceed as usual, and we request them to stand behind the University and not risk the stature and reputation it has achieved in the last few years,” the university said.
HAU also said “we reiterate that the University has always complied with the provisions of the law regarding salary and benefits, as evidenced by successful CBA negotiations in the past, issuance of certificates of compliance by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), and the undeniable fact that our employees and faculty enjoy competitive salaries and a package of benefits.”
