Despite strike, operations remain normal, says Angeles City university

ANGELES CITY , Philippines   â€“ Officials of the strike-plagued Holy Angel University (HAU) here said yesterday that school operations have remained normal and that only 85 out of 676 teachers have been in the picket line since Aug. 15.

“We would like to assure our students and their parents that classes are held as usual inside the university. Only 85 out of 676 faculty members are on strike, which means there are 591 non-striking faculty members who continue delivering instruction, plus qualified substitutes who come from the same faculty staff,” the HAU said in an advisory.

The protesting teachers belonging to the HAU Teachers and Employees Union (HAU-TEU) have complained about low pay and the collapse of collective bargaining talks with the school administration.

They alleged to be receiving P10,000 lower than the average pay of their counterparts in public schools.

The university also urged “our striking faculty not to exert pressure on their students to abandon their classes as a show of support for their cause.”

“Students should never be asked to take sides in a labor dispute. It is our duty, as faculty and administrators, to deliver to them without interruption the instruction and services that they have already paid for,” the HAU said.   

“Our students have also been made to believe that our striking employees and faculty are underpaid and even cheated,” it said.

“We are deeply offended by this accusation because we have always complied with the requirements of the law, and all the benefits have been successfully negotiated with past union officers. We take pride in our competitive salaries and benefits which (are the reasons) our faculty applied to us in the first place,” it added.

The teachers, according to HAU, have been receiving significant benefits, including 95 percent tuition discount in college and graduate school for faculty members and employees; 90 percent tuition discount for a maximum of four of their children; P100,000 health and hospitalization insurance that also covers two dependents; and full-month Christmas bonus on top of the 13th month pay, among other benefits.

The university also cited life insurance worth P100,000, death benefits worth P40,000, uniform allowance worth P4,000, “welcome gift” for a newborn baby worth P10,000 for Caesarean delivery and P5,000 for normal birth, and birthday gift of P500.