AS THE sun set on another busy day in Katipunan, Ateneo Employee and Workers Union Acting President Bobet Salinas walks to a nearby cafe with his co-officers Acting Vice President Boyet Digos and Acting Secretary Rico Narciso. The three do not say much when they arrived; their sullen eyes, calloused hands, and short, shallow breaths told the story for them. On their shoulders, they carry not only the exhaustion from a whole day’s work, but also the hopes and woes of every single Union member they were responsible for.

The pandemic may have prompted students and faculty to vacate University premises yet there are those who still remain. The lifeblood of the University stays on campus to ensure that the school left behind still stands to this day. Spurred by a sense of duty and a need to make ends meet, University workers thus continue to work onsite despite COVID-19 virus fears and unresolved work agreements.

Still on the hill

As the uncertainties of the pandemic rage on, the Union’s unsettled work negotiations with the Ateneo—coupled with the stress from their workload—has led them to feel burnt out. This, in turn, has led to bouts of anxiety and depression—a phenomenon known as pandemic trauma.

Thus, the distressing experiences that the second year of the pandemic brings afflicts not only students in the online setting, but also those who continue their on-site maintenance work. In particular, Salinas notes that morale among the Union members has tanked.

According to him, they are required to come in for work every other week, after which they are mandated to take the next week off. This is because the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has set protocols indicating that the University can only work with an on-site skeletal workforce in order to lessen the rate of exposure.

However, Salinas laments that the current work arrangement and the resulting pay are not enough to support himself. as well as his child’s medication expenses. “May sinasahod ka pero ‘di siya sumasapat sa panggastos mo sa loob ng isang linggo (You earn but it’s not enough for all the expenses for one week),” Salinas says.

Narciso chimes in, “Meron na iba na pinapaalis na sa pinauupahan nilang bahay dahil nga sumesweldo lang [sila] sa isang linggo ng [Php] 500 [o] 600. Sa isang linggo, kung nangungupahan ka, paano [ka] makakabuhay ng pamilya, eh sa upa pa lang ng bahay, tubig, kuryente mo kulang pa ‘yan eh. Pagkain mo pa. ‘Yun ‘yung mahirap ngayon.”

(Some are evicted from their apartments because [they] earn only 500 or 600 pesos in one week. As a tenant, how are you going to sustain your family’s [other] needs in a week, when the house, water, and electricity can’t be paid off? Food is also an issue. That’s what’s difficult right now.)

Neglected negotiations

For years, Salinas, Digos, and Narciso have stood alongside their Union members in negotiating with the Ateneo administration for better working conditions. Although the University extended its compassion and offered financial assistance amid the pandemic, workers attest that the measures are unsustainable. For the Union, these financial measures are all the more reason to continue their demands despite the challenges of the new normal.

In the wake of the pandemic, Salinas mentions that the University offered workers a Php 15,000 community quarantine loan without interest—a form of support for workers who did not qualify for work-from-home arrangements. The loan would become payable two years after issuance, with the installments deducted from the workers’ salaries. He adds that adjustments were made to the workers’ health insurance plans to also cover COVID-19 hospitalizations.

To further alleviate the workers’ financial situation in AY 2020-2021, the University allowed them to advance 30 days of their paid leave for AY 2021-2022 in case they exhaust their paid leave days for AY 2020-2021. The wages from those paid leave days were then used to sustain their financial needs on the days that they did not work on campus.

For Salinas, this kind of policy does not suffice. He notes that, once their leave days are exhausted, they no longer get paid when they are not on-site. 

The University has made measures to address this. According to Salinas, workers were allowed to advance three days’ worth of wages when they’re not called to work. For every week they work thereafter, they will only receive half of their original wages while the rest would go to paying back the wages they received ahead of time.

After more than a year into the pandemic, Salinas says the University also decided to give workers a pandemic assistance package called Blue Aid last May. The package, which amounted to Php 40,000, served as a token of appreciation to the workers.

According to Salinas, the University also offered to defer salary deductions that usually went to paying the workers’ Social Security System (SSS) fund and other insurance programs. This was to avoid making further cuts to their salary.

However, Salinas says that this is a mere band-aid solution that does not help workers in the long run: “[…] Malaki nga ‘yung sasahurin mo pero ‘yung pagkakautang mo [sa insurance funds] maiiwan kasi hindi na idededuct ni Ateneo ‘yun.”

(Your salary becomes sizeable but your debt [to Ateneo for the insurance funds] will accumulate since Ateneo refuses to make the deductions).

Throughout the course of the pandemic, the University’s financial aid has given the workers temporary respite. However, the workers say that most of these come in the form of loans that they will inevitably pay back—on terms that the University has yet to divulge to them.

“Parang ‘di naman masabi na tulong ‘yun kasi babayaran mo rin eh. … Utang din ‘yan kasi. Yung tulong yun yung kusang-loob nilang ibigay sa ‘yo (You can’t call it aid because you’d still have to pay it back. … It’s a loan. Aid is something that’s willingly given to you),” Narciso says.

Walking forward

Through all the hardships that they experience working under the Ateneo through the pandemic, the workers’ sliver of hope remains through the roll-out of vaccines in the country.

The University Vaccination Program, which has been in place since May, prioritized inoculating University employees. However, Salinas found distribution of vaccines among workers to be slow. “[…] Ang tagal kasi ‘yung iba dahil nung time na yun inorder pa yun sa ibang bansa (It took so long because at the time, [vaccines] had to be delivered from overseas).”

Luckily, Salinas attests that the Quezon City Government’s vaccination program—which was held on University grounds—was able to accommodate the workers.

As vaccine rollouts usher the resumption of on-site classes, Salinas is confident that the University is prepared for the return to normal. “Handa na sila kasi halos lahat naman binakunahan (They’re ready because almost all [employees] have been vaccinated).”

Moving forward, the Union officers believe that a return to on-site classes will lighten their financial burden. However, they assert that it is not the end to the workers’ woes that predate the pandemic. Narciso fears that once the Union workers start working regularly during face-to-face classes, they’d have to pay back the loans they’ve accumulated throughout the pandemic.

Thus, he asks the University to provide another assistance package. “Sana bago dumating ‘yung punto na [pumapasok] na kami nang tuloy-tuloy, [magbigay] sila kahit one-time na ayuda para may pangsuporta man sa pamilya (I hope that before we begin working regularly, they give us aid so we could support our families).”

For years, the Union has stood firm in its campaign, but it affirms that it needs the support of the Loyola Schools community. Salinas urges the student body to stand with them in their calls for better working conditions.

“Kasi kami naman ang naghahanda ng inyong gagamitin para sa inyong pag-aaral (We’re the ones who prepare what you need for your studies), ” Salinas says. “[…] sana nandiyan lang kayo sa likod, tumulong para mabuksan ang isipan ng administration na tulungan kami (We hope you’ll stand behind us, assisting us in opening the administration’s mind).”