After several months of reasoning out with the members of the Administration Panel that their negotiation parameter is unsubstantiated with pertinent laws of the land, contrary to good moral reason, and detrimental to the future of the university, the Silliman University Faculty Association filed an Unfair Labor Practice case against the Silliman University Administration on Nov. 9, 2024 at the National Conciliation Mediation Board of the Department of Labor and Employment.
Due to bad faith negotiation, namely their insistence on using only the 70 percent share of the Tuition Fee Increment Proceeds as the parameter for negotiation, and their refusal to use the Audited Financial Statement as the basis for this negotiation to improve economic benefits for its academic personnel, SUFA was compelled to file the ULP case as basis for the Notice to Strike (NOS), and conducted a Strike Vote with an overwhelming mandate from its members that when and should it be necessary, the Union will exercise its constitutional right.
Last December 2024, the Silliman University Administration filed a ULP case against SUFA at the National Labor Relations Commission due to blue-sky bargaining. With its externally hired lawyer from the ACCRA Law Office (Cebu), the Administration is intent on intimidating and harassing the Union.
Thus, we are now in a critical juncture. We call on the public and interested parties to help resolve this labor dispute.
We challenge the members of the Board of Trustees of Silliman University to come out from their Board Room, and see for themselves the situation on the ground.
We also issue the same challenge for the President of Silliman University, Dr. Betty Cernol McCann, to exercise her courage and wisdom to engage in a heart-to-heart conversation with the members of the SUFA Panel, rather than delegate this task to personalities who do not have the authority to exercise their own prerogative.
In short, we call the leaders and stakeholders of this University to step up to the plate, and deal this dispute fairly and squarely.
Asst Prof Jonathan Mark Te
President, SU Faculty Association