Sixteen non-teaching staffers of the University of San Carlos (USC) staged a strike against the school administration that suspended morning summer classes in their Talamban campus.
In a statement, the carpenters, plumbers, electricians and maintenance employees of the General Services Office said they are fighting for their right to form a labor union and the school’s plan to close their department within this month.
Classes resumed at 1:30 p.m at the Talamban campus. “We were told that they were closing the department to offset their losses once the K+12 program of the Department of Education goes full steam in 2016. We are questioning why our department would be sacrificed so they can implement the program,” their statement read.
Juberito Contratista, a painter and one of the leaders of the protest said they were told that the administration will instead get the services of an agency to maintain the school instead of employing regular employees.
“It’s not just for them to fire us as we are members of the ALU-TUCP (Association of Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines). They’re doing this to break up the union. They want to replace us with employees who cannot receive the same benefits we’re receiving now and won’t receive security of tenure,” they added.
“Just because we’re masons and painters doesn’t mean they can easily dispose of us,” Contratista said. The National Concilliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) notified both parties that a conference will be held on May 21 at the Department of Labor and Employment regional office.