CEBU, Philippines - After three hours of negotiation, the administration of Velez College yesterday said that they will not be implementing their initial plan to have teachers render 40 hours of work per week which caused a rift between the school and the faculty members.
Earlier yesterday, teachers and students of Velez College and other supporters gathered in front of school to protest the alleged illegal dismissal of 15 teachers from one department without valid basis which prompted other teachers to resign, consequently compromising classes which supposedly should have started last Monday.
Rey Pendang, president of the Velez College Faculty and Non-Teaching Union (VCFANTU) said that the problem started when the school mandated teachers to render 40 hours of work per week.
Pendang said that the teachers opposed the said order as it is a violation of their rights as workers.
“Suppose you are a full-time probationary, then you have regular loads or eight subjects that is equivalent to 24 units per week, and since one unit is also equivalent to one hour of lecture, then you are therefore supposedly required to render only 24 hours per week again based only on the actual loads and should not be based on illegal forty hours of work,” he said.
VCFANTU highlighted Article 5 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the union and the school’s administration which states that “the present schedule of working hours shall be maintained; in the case of the faculty members, it shall be based on actual load.
The mandate of the school, according to the union also violates Section 120 of the manual of regulations for private higher education of the Commission on Higher Education which states that the normal hours of work of teaching or academic personnel shall be based on their normal regular teaching loads.
“It is illegal, unlawful, unjust, unfair and inequitable to require all the faculty members to render 40 hours of work but only the twenty hours of their work or service will be paid, In other words, the sixteen hours of their work will not be paid and aside from the fact that the sixteen hours will not be paid, there is also a corresponding deduction if the faculty will be late and absent or if the faculty cannot comply with the said sixteen hours or the total forty hours per week.“
Pendang said that when they met with the administration on the concern, they were told that if they did not want to comply with the new mandate they were free to leave. Also, deductions would be made from their salary if they would not complete the 40 hours.
VCFANTU spokesman Jonel Perfecio and one of the teachers who was initially dismissed, said that they have set numerous dialogues with the administration but failed to get an answer from the school. It was only when they sought the help of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board that the administration met with them.
He said that the administration initially agreed that the 40-hour mandate would not be implemented if the issue is contained and the concern tackled only by the concerned parties. Perfecio said that they agreed with the conditions of the school “in good faith” including the request to stop giving of leaflets and armbands to students and teachers as a sign of support for their concern.
However, he said that the administration still pushed through with circulating of the new directive and having teachers sign it.
He said that they were surprised when last Oct. 31, 15 teachers from the College of Arts and Sciences department, including him, received a notice that they were dismissed from the school. They reportedly asked the Human Resources Department for the grounds of dismissal but were only told that there were less enrollees and that it was also based on performance.
Perfecio said that when they asked for a performance evaluation, the department could not provide any.
After their first negotiation, three teachers were reportedly reinstated but one declined the offer and pushed through with resigning while eight others are still on a “hanging” status since they were not formally dismissed but were not given loads as well for the semester.
Other teachers from different departments reportedly resigned to support the dismissed teachers. However, the said teachers, mostly from the Occupational Therapy Department, clarified yesterday during the rally that they did not resign but are still fully supporting the dismissed teachers and are completely against the 40-hour mandate.
Perfecio explained that eight teachers in the OT Department were not renewed after not signing the 40 hours work mandate but may be changed since the cause of the problem has been solved.
He added that the negotiation took a while since a lot of matters needed to be discussed but they were happy that the main concern was resolved and that the administration said they will comply with Section 5 of the CBA.
But Perfecio said that they will meet with the administration again by Monday since they need to resolve the other concerns like the reinstatement of the dismissed teachers and the status of the teachers who were not given loads.
The union also petitioned for the removal of CAS department dean Engr. Jocelyn Gonzales due to alleged “unprofessional” verbal attacks on the teachers. During the negotiation, Perfecio said that the administration was open for the faculty to make recommendations for a new dean, as long as qualifications would fit.
Students from different departments were present yesterday in the rally to support their teachers.
John Marc Abarquez, a second-year BS Medical Technology student, urged his fellow students to fight for their teachers.
He said he is worried since classes should have started last Monday but the school moved it to Nov. 12. He said his parents were worried also. He said that most of those that were dismissed were teachers handling minor subjects and that he only had one minor subject left, which should ease his burden on the concern.
“But there are still incoming freshmen students, how about them? We will not stop until our teachers are given what is due to them,” he said.
Cesar Llanto, an occupational therapy student also wrote to The FREEMAN on the concern of their teachers and if they will ever be having classes at all.
Llanto said that he thinks their tuition fee, which is around P30,000 to P40,000, go to their teachers since their facilities are reportedly not up to date. —/BRP(FREEMAN)