Ateneo union workers end strike

MANILA, Philippines — Union employees and workers of the Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU) ended their strike on Friday after reaching an agreement with the university administration.

ADMU president Jose Ramon Villarin said the strike officially ended on Friday after the university signed an agreement with the Ateneo Employees and Workers Union (AEWU).

Members of the AEWU officially went on strike on Wednesday after failed negotiations on a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) involving salaries and benefits of its 246 members.

The union filed a notice of strike last Dec. 21 and continued to negotiate with the university following the mandated 30-day cooling off period.

The workers officially went on strike two months after it filed the notice to the university.

Details of the agreement were not released.

In its list of demands, the AEWU proposed general increases of P210 per month and maximum merit increases of P900 per month for 2017 and 2018.  

“Significantly, Ateneo has more than enough funds to give its organized rank and file just and reasonable increases in benefits,” it said in an earlier statement.

But according to Ateneo, the demand of the union would leave a small amount for thousands of other employees of the university.

“The amount demanded by the union is about P40,684,586 for Fiscal Year 2017-2018 and another P45,563,395 for Fiscal Year 2018-2019. For the two-year period, this would comprise about 47 percent of what is earmarked for the whole university,” said Ateneo CBA panel chair Fr. Jose Mario Francisco.

“For the remaining two-year period of the five-year CBA, AEWU demands over P85 million for 246 AEWU members, leaving P96 million for the rest of the employees of the university – for 2,863 employees,” he added.