KMU slams PUP admin for refusing janitors’ absorption

Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno condemned today the administration of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines for refusing the absorption of striking janitors into a new service agency, claiming the administration sabotaged the bidding process for a new agency.

A representative of an agency eager to join the bidding process told the striking janitors that members of the university’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) told him that the janitors were already old and difficult to order around.

The said agency backed out of the bidding process as a result.

The bidding held by the BAC last June 19 failed because of the lone bidder’s failure to present necessary documents.

“We cannot help but think that the bidding failed because of the PUP administration’s moves. Service agencies will really refuse to bid because the BAC itself is bad-mouthing the janitors who should be absorbed by the winning bidder,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.

“The PUP administration promised to absorb the janitors, held the bidding, but sabotaged the process. It is not sincere in promising the absorption of the janitors whose families are now getting hungrier by the day,” he added.

“Pinaasa lang ng PUP admin ang mga manggagawang matagal nang naglilingkod sa pamantasan. The PUP admin only made a fool of the janitors who have been serving the university for decades,” he said.

The labor center reiterated its call for the absorption of the striking janitors.

“The PUP admin should uphold the Feb. 16 memorandum of agreement between the janitors’ union and PUP’s OIC then, in which the PUP admin promised that the janitors will be absorbed into a new agency,” Labog said.

“All previous presidents have found a way of absorbing the janitors, some of whom have been working for the university since 1986. Why is it that PUP president De Guzman, instead of doing everything in his powers for the janitors’ absorption, has been content with making empty promises?” he asked.

KMU also condemned the PUP admin for granting permission to the Philippine National Police to enter the university last Feb. 22, the day the janitors held a protest action.

“This move by the new PUP admin insults the PUP Community’s long tradition of activism. It is a shame that it allowed the police to enter the university to repress striking janitors and their supporters,” Labog said.

The police were driven out of the campus by irate students and workers who condemned the police’s intervention into the university’s affairs.