As the month nears its end and the contracts of contractual employees of the University of the Philippines (UP) near their end, a labor NGO said that the state university is treating its contractuals in ways that violate its motto of “honor and excellence.”

The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) criticized the UP administration led by President Angelo A. Jimenez for failing to renew the contracts of the university’s contractual employees last June 15, the date designated by UP itself, and subjecting the contractuals to uncertainty about their employment, which is scheduled to end on June 30.

“We have been hearing about the situation of UP contractuals and we can say that there’s no ‘honor and excellence’ in the way the state university treats them. The government and especially UP, are sadly not setting good examples of upholding labor rights,” said Kamz Deligente, CTUHR executive director.

Under UP’s Memorandum No. ACR 26-6, the university’s Office of the Vice President for Administration (OVPA) should have released the official contract templates on June 15, and the university’s contractual employees, led by the Alliance of Contractual Employees in UP (ACE-UP), say that the delay endangers their jobs based on the “no contract, no start of work” rule and will also mean delays in the release of their salaries.

“No one should fear for their jobs or delays in their salaries just because their employer has been remiss in processing papers in a timely way. We are calling on the UP administration to exert all efforts to release the employees’ contracts, ensure their job security, and guarantee the timely release of their salaries,” said Deligente.

CTUHR also echoed ACE-UP’s demand to the UP administration to implement a monthly rate scheme for the salaries of Contract of Service (COS) personnel, which are at present disbursed through a daily rate scheme.

“UP’s contractuals have every reason to feel that the daily rate scheme is an insult to their dignity. Even in the private sector, a daily rate scheme means that the employer will ensure that workers put in a lot of work within a day and be strict in ensuring that their pay does not go beyond the minimum measure of their work,” Deligente added.

CTUHR expressed its support for ACE-UP’s call for the regularization of contractual employees, who say that the continuous renewal of their contracts show that they are performing tasks that are essential and desirable to the university and that the university, not manpower agencies, have control over their work.

“We know that contractualization is a wholesale violation of workers’ rights to a living wage, to job security, and to unionize and strike. UP should not hide behind the technicalities of contractualization and should uphold labor rights to the best that it can. It should at the very least progressively regularize sections of its contractual workforce,” Deligente added.