RAYMUNDO is a janitor who has worked in government for 31 years. He was with a group from his school division who attended the 2023 Mindanao assembly of the National Employees Union (NEU) of the Department of Education (DepEd), the biggest public sector union with more than 57,000 verified members who belong to the non-teaching personnel of the department.
Raymundo attracted my attention when I saw him taking notes while I was speaking on the importance of understanding and applying core values in their work and in their being union members.
After my talk, I approached the round table where Raymundo was seated. I asked him why he was taking notes and he said he will share what he just learned with his children. Without hesitation, I gave him the printed script of my Powerpoint presentation. He was surprised but very thankful. He promised to read and study it well.
It was the first time Raymundo attended a union assembly and he said that it was only that time that he understood what public sector unionism was all about and how it should be. He said this made him realize that his non-teaching job was an important part of the teaching function of DepEd and their union was a constitutional right with corresponding obligations.
While the non-teaching personnel are represented by a national union that engages management in a collective negotiation, the teachers by rule can only be represented by a regional union. The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), for example, had to get the necessary accreditation from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in every region. While the NEU enjoys a single collective negotiation agreement (CNA) for its members nationwide, ACT has so far gained five regional collective negotiation agreements. Despite its militancy, ACT has not won benefits by collective negotiation for teachers on a national scale.
I wonder why ACT did not fight for a single national union for teachers from the start when it practically dominated teacher union politics. With a teacher population of 900,000 nationwide now, ACT needs to sign up 90,000 members to fight for the right to represent the teaching personnel nationwide in collective negotiation. NEU was able to gather more than 57,000 signed membership forms nationwide or some 78 percent of the total non-teaching personnel of 73,000.
Both NEU and ACT never won or acquired “close shop” status in their CNAs affecting the enforcement of automatic salary deduction for union dues that are then dependent on individual member approval rather than on a blanket authority to deduct from all those covered by the CNA bargaining unit.
It was during the time of Secretary Armin Luistro that ACT was able to get union accreditation from DOLE in almost all regions using attendance sheets as proof of membership. Nevertheless, the acquired accreditation did not readily lead to the negotiation table for some reasons.
The reason for the regional union set up was the big number of teachers. Both management and ACT agreed to it for their respective purpose and objective. Being part of the National Democratic coalition from the start, ACT may be following a political structure parallel with that of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) for better handling. Unionism in the CPP-led revolution is just a tactic to arouse, organize and mobilize in support of the main form of struggle that is armed and aiming to topple the state. For DepEd management and the administration then the setup was likely for better supervision using the regional offices and some sort of accommodation to ACT for a modus vivendi for peaceful co-existence.
Any other contender for the right to represent the teachers in the bargaining table has to show it has a membership representing at least 10 percent of the total number of teachers in the concerned region to legally challenge the incumbent to a certification election or claim the right to be the single negotiating agent for the teachers when there are no other qualified groups in the region. Among the possible contenders are the DepEd Teachers Union (DTU), the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), and the Action and Solidarity for the Empowerment of Teachers (ASSERT).
Under Vice President Sara as Secretary of Education, ACT faces a bigger challenge. Just recently, a DepEd memo required the DepEd NCR to account for all the salary deductions of teachers in favor of ACT. A list of paying members will have to be produced, something that ACT and its members have understandably been reluctant to make public precisely because of the brand of militant politics it is engaged in and how the government now looks at them.
Raymundo, our friend-janitor, simply wants a union that takes care of their welfare and works for benefits despite the pronounced limitations of the DepEd management. His interest in the core values that I discussed during their Mindanao assembly, namely Maka-Diyos, Makatao, Makakalikasan, and Makabansa, shows his concern beyond himself. The core values are both the motto of government by law and the adopted core values of DepEd. Raymundo exemplifies how responsible unionism in the public sector can be promoted.
