UPR president signs stipulation after not doing so sparked a strike

UPR President Luis A. Ferrao Delgado

By The Star Staff

University of Puerto Rico (UPR) President Luis A. Ferrao Delgado on Wednesday signed the stipulation agreed upon with the Workers Union and submitted the requests of the negotiating committee to the UPR governing board as part of a new collective bargaining agreement.

“I have signed the stipulation approved by the Negotiating Committee,” Ferrao said in a written statement. “We believe that it is fair for the workers of the Union.”

The agreement includes a base pay increase to $13 an hour, a one-time payment of $3,500, and a pay raise of at least $300 a month, or 6%. It also restores the union’s right to its own health care plan and certain permanent appointments.

The proposal will be evaluated by the Financial Oversight and Management Board for final approval, said Ferrao, who promised to arrange for its prompt approval.

The union was informed of the approval by the UPR governing board and immediately lifted a strike it had activated earlier Wednesday. Its members will return to work today, the union said.

The governing board must channel the stipulation agreement to the oversight board.

“We have achieved our objective,” Workers Union President David Muñoz said. “We have succeeded in ensuring that the process was carried out as negotiated between the negotiating committees representing the university administration and the UPR Workers’ Union.”

Muñoz had said the decision to go on strike was a response to Ferrao’s “reluctance [...] to sign the stipulation of the agreement agreed upon by the negotiating committees on August 16.”

The union leader said Ferrao had, “in collusion with the institution’s Governing Board, passed the stipulation agreement to the Financial Oversight [and Management] Board without an official position, knowing what this entails.”

“This is an act of bad faith and a lack of respect for the process that for weeks took up time on the part of the administrators representing the presidency and our union,” Muñoz had said. “We have no other choice but to activate the strike vote.”