IN PREPARATION for the 2024–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations set to start today, July 1, the Ateneo Employees and Workers Union (AEWU) discussed their main grievances last April 11 and 12 as preliminaries for the renewal of their employment terms.

Elaborating on the CBA timeline, AEWU President Raymond Tano said that last April 30, the Union submitted their letter of intent to negotiate with the administration regarding the renewal of their employment benefits.

Since the conclusion of the eight-month CBA renegotiations in April 2023, Tano shared that the Ateneo administration has been fulfilling its promises, particularly regarding the agreed-upon fiscal changes, such as the redefinition of new gross pay and a one-time lump sum payment of Php 15,000 per Union member.

Coming from last year

While the CBA preparations usually take six months to a year, Tano stated that the Union started late due to internal factors affecting the members’ availability. Among the main concerns raised by members is the inconvenience and inefficiency caused by the Central Management Facilities Office’s (CFMO) reorganization, which occurred prior to Tano’s term.

“Walang magandang epekto ‘yung [reorganization], kasi ‘yung kalahating dinala mo na galing ibang department, tuturuan lang ng [naiwan na maintenance]. ‘Yung trabaho ng supervisors, binibigay mo ‘dun sa mga tao, which is walang namang umento,” Tano elaborated.

(Nothing good has come out of the reorganization because the half that you brought from another department will simply be taught by the remaining maintenance. You’re giving the job of the supervisor to the other workers without a raise.)

Particularly, Tano mentioned how the reorganization had been unclear under the previous AEWU officers, thus making processes less streamlined. “Walang problema sa [reorganization] kung maayos ‘yung pagkaka-handle,” Tano asserted.

(There is no problem with [reorganization] if it were properly handled.)

On the other hand, Vice President for University Human Resources Maria Victoria T. Cortez, PhD explained that the reorganization allows the workers to be more familiarized with the University by placing them in different units.

Cortez also elaborated that the administration set up a system to ensure that half of the staff would remain in their original deployments, while other employees were rotated to other clusters or departments.

Better employment conditions

Amid the CFMO’s reorganization, Tano revealed that once the negotiations begin, the AEWU will prioritize seeking possible revisions to the policies for claiming overtime pay so that the process may be expedited. Based on the current 2022–2024 CBA, overtime pay may only be given to authorized overtime work.

Apart from overtime pay, external benefits, and the eight remaining undisclosed terms, Tano stated that the other provisions in the CBA, which include employment salaries and leaves, will remain the same following their renewal in last year’s renegotiations.

Moving forward, Tano also voiced out the Union’s concerns on the benefits and support earned from parents through the employees’ assistance to the students under their assigned educational unit. Despite others having no contact with the students, he noted that these benefits are distributed uniformly to employees across all units.

As of June 19, Cortez mentioned that the admin panel is still crafting its counter proposal for the CBA, taking into account the University’s financial situation.

In the upcoming future

With the upcoming CBA negotiations, Tano noted that he is already expecting the renegotiation process to be difficult, as it will necessitate discussions on pay and benefits. Despite this, he acknowledged the admin’s recent efforts to be more open in negotiating with AEWU.

“’Yung financial statements last year, ang tagal [bago ibinigay]. CBA proper na tsaka lang nila binigay, September na ata ‘yon. Pero ngayon, pagpasa namin ng request ng financial statement nila na audited, 1 week lang yata, binigay na samin. Improvement na rin ‘yon,”  Tano shared.

(Last year, the financial statements took so long. They were only provided during  CBA proper around September. However, right now, after we submitted a request for their audited financial statement, they gave it to us within a week. That’s already an improvement.)

Moreover, Tano recognized the support that the Ateneo community showed during their renegotiations with the administration during the second semester of AY 2022–2023. He remained hopeful that this support will urge the admin to avoid delaying or prolonging the upcoming CBA.

With their discussed grievances, Tano said they hope for the administration’s continued cooperation and transparency in ensuring better working conditions for the employees.Similarly, Cortez expressed her hope that the upcoming CBA negotiations will be a “smoother ride” compared to previous ones, which extended to talks of employee strikes. According to her, this goal can be achieved through having continued dialogues and better understanding from both parties.