THE DEPARTMENT of Labor and Employment (DOLE) already handed out its verdict. The NLRC decision was a deadly blow to the ideals and interests being pursued by the AUFEA for its members, the most implicating part of which is the termination of its five officers.

According to the decision, both parties should come together and conclude the union’s CBA 30 days from the receipt of the said order.

But with the administration’s refusal to acknowledge Babilyn Tero as president of the union, and the other terminated professors as officials, and with the voluntary arbitration case filed by the admin, the possibility of both parties coming into terms “within thirty days from receipt” of the order is seen unlikely.

The CBA is the only mechanism by which employees, from those toiling in factories to salary men and women in private companies, are able to acquire security of tenure and their law-endowed benefits.

With the rift widening due to the recent strike staged by the union and the retaliatory move of the other side, the union members are in for a longer time without their CBA.

Which is almost an unthinkable thought. A union without a CBA is virtually not a union in itself but just another list of employees categorized into nice, little sorted lists inside the HRD database computer.

And the AUFEA was reduced to this.

The NLRC should review its decision regarding this case. The whole judgment is based upon the “defiance” of the union to the return to work order released by DOLE. There are deeper wounds left open to rot.