300 Silliman University teachers go on strike after CBA talks collapse

Silliman University in Dumaguete City (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

Published:  5:44 p.m., July 19, 2017 | Updated: 11:56 p.m., July 19, 2017

DUMAGUETE CITY — Close to 300 faculty members of Silliman University (SU) here went on strike on Wednesday following the collapse of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations for school years 2016 to 2019.

The administration, however, assured parents that classes and university services would continue during the strike staged by members of the SU Faculty Association (Sufa), which accounts for 294 faculty members who have no administrative positions.

University officials urged the faculty union to respect measures they had put in place “to ensure the continued administration of learning opportunities to its students.”

Disagreement

Representatives of the administration and the faculty union could not agree on several issues.

The union, led by Assistant Professor Jan Antoni Credo, Sufa president, was asking for the lifting of the 35-year cap or the number of years a faculty member could serve before retirement.

The administration, however, said this was still a subject of litigation.

Also among the issues under negotiation were bonuses, class sizes for kindergarten and Grade 1 classes, subsidy for scholars who are children of faculty members and the granting of productivity enhancement incentive without conditions.

According to the administration, it wants to install in Silliman a package of salaries and benefits that is “the highest it can afford, that which is sustainable, and which has the least pressure on tuition cost.”

Health plans

The union also proposed an automatic extension on their health plans in the event that no CBA was reached. But the administration rejected this proposal, saying its acceptance depended on the health maintenance organization, a third party provider.

“Our offer is guided by what the university can afford, what will not compromise the sustainability of overall operations, and what is prudent, especially with the decline in enrollment revenues brought about by the K-12 program,” the administration said in a statement.

The administration has proposed a final offer of P63 million for the next three school years, with about P57 million allotted for salary increases, bonuses, and other benefits.

But Sufa lamented that the administration’s offer could be reduced to an increase of only P143 a day for the next three years.

The union was asking for P86 million in increases. SFM /atm