THE ATENEO Employees and Workers Union (AEWU) has filed its second notice of strike amid a deadlock with the University administration to renegotiate terms for the 2019–2024 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)—the written legal contract between both parties.

The notice was filed on February 15 with the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB). Currently, there remains a 30-day “cooling period” before AEWU can push through with the actual strike.

“During these periods, the NCMB shall exert all efforts at the mediation and conciliation to effect voluntary settlement,” according to the Bureau of Labor Relations.

This February 21, AEWU will be holding a briefing session from 10 AM to 12 PM, which is exclusive to University students at the Union office in the Blue Eagle Gym. During the meeting, the Union will deliver updates to the CBA renegotiations and their own stance on the matter.

According to the University Marketing and Communications Office Director Matec Villanueva, the administration will share relevant details regarding these details and the 2019–2024 CBA in “due time.”

A rocky start

Since August 31, 2022, the Union has been unable to reach a mutual understanding with regard to CBA article provisions such as hazard pay, benefits, and longevity increases on salaries and wages.

Going into negotiations about such issues, AEWU President Raymond ‘Mondie’ Tano believed that tensions were high since the administration was allegedly stifling AEWU recruitment by providing Union-member benefits to nonunion employees. For instance, the education allowance for nonunion employees’ children is now almost the same amount as that of Union employees.

“Ibinigay na rin sa mga nonunion kung ano ang nakukuha ng mga [nasa] Union. Kaya wala nang mga sumasali na nonunion sa union, kasi halos lahat na ibinibigay sa Union, binibigay na rin sa nonunion,” Tano explained.

(The benefits received by the Union workers are also given to nonunion workers. Now, nobody wants to join the Union because they’ll get the same benefits anyway.)

Moreover, during the first renegotiation meeting in August, AEWU Treasurer Roselle Cruz said that the administration panel provided them with counter-proposals to their demands, which AEWU felt were lacking in data and documents from the administration’s end.

Despite the frequent meetings that followed, Tano said that the Union could not justify their demands since the administration usually provided verbal updates instead of financial statements. These issues have caused the renegotiations to last over five months with the Union. Ultimately, the situation remained unresolved and the negotiations entered its first deadlock.

“Nirerespeto ko pa rin ang relasyon ng admin at ng union panel. Ayoko [nang] masira ‘yun eh. Kaysa maglabas tayo ng sama ng loob, […] i-deadlock ko na lang ‘to,” Tano said.

(I respect the relationship between the administration and the union panel. I don’t want to ruin it. Rather than us voicing our dissatisfaction, […] I’d rather deadlock this.)

It was on January 18, during this standstill period, that Tano decided to file the first notice of strike to get the administration to heed AEWU’s demands and situation.

Tano emphasized, “Hindi kami against sa admin. […] Ang amin lang is […] ang union at admin dapat nagtutulungan (We’re not against admin. Our side is […] the union and admin should be helping each other).”

Notably, the administration continued to provide pandemic assistance called Blue Aid for employees who kept operations “steady” throughout the COVID-19 surges. Moreover, a one-time performance bonus was also given to those who qualified for a performance evaluation.

As mentioned in a memo, both forms of financial assistance were scheduled to be released on May 31, 2022.

Striking situation

After meeting with the administration panel later that year, the first notice of strike was downgraded to preventive mediation. Then, AEWU and the administration agreed to seek the Department of Labor and Employment’s assistance in progressing with their renegotiations.

However, Tano clarified that AEWU’s notice to strike notice was initially only meant to pressure the administration and AEWU had no intentions of actually pushing through with this.

“Sabi ko, ‘papayag ako [sa] preventive mediation. Id-downgrade ko ‘yung notice of strike to preventive mediation dahil gusto ko pa rin kayo mapagbigyan,’” Tano recalled a conversation he had with one of the administration panel’s legal counsel.

(I told them, ‘I’ll agree to preventive mediation. I’ll downgrade the notice of strike to preventive mediation because I want to give you [administration] a chance.’”)

Furthermore, the Union asserted that they do not intend to repeat the 2018 strike and the 2019 silent protest in light of CBA negotiations in part because protesting within campus premises is a violation of the Labor Code of the Philippines.

Window for peace

Emphasizing AEWU’s intentions, Tano asserted that the Union wanted cooperation with the administration in ensuring that all employees of the Ateneo are well-off regardless of their status as an AEWU member.

On the AEWU’s relationship with the administration, Tano added that the two parties conflict on their views on the rights of the workers as stipulated in Article 13, Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution. The aforementioned law grants workers the right to self-organization, collective bargaining and negotiations, as well the right to strike.

“‘Yung rights nila bilang manggagawa na kung sakaling natatapakan na, doon lang tayo nagkakaroon ng pagtatalo, pero sa kabuuan ang gusto naman din natin ay maging maayos ang mga empleyado ng Ateneo, ” Tano further elaborated.

(When the workers’ rights get stepped on, then that’s when we’ll have a dispute. Although on a larger scale, what we both want is for all Ateneo employees to be well.)

Ultimately, the Union expressed their hopes for the administration to remain fair in addressing AEWU’s demands beyond simply coming to an agreement on the 2022–2024 CBA.