Teachers hold ‘sit down’ strike today to press gov’t for salary increase
A militant group of teachers will stage a nationally coordinated “sit down” strike today, Friday, to press the government to increase the salary of teachers and non-teaching staff under the Department of Education (DepEd).
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), the broadest alliance of teachers in the country, will hold the one-day “sit down” protest as a response to what they call “neglect” shown by the government to teachers, particularly in public schools.
Among those that will join the “sit down” strike are ACT’s affiliate organizations and chapters – particularly members of the Quezon City Public School Teachers Association (QCPSTA) and the Manila Public School Teachers Association (MPSTA).
According to QCPSTA and ACTQC Chapter President Dr. Priscilla Ampuan, thousands of Quezon City teachers will join the “sit down” strike in schools and in a rally at the
Quezon City Hall. “The 13,000-strong teacher-members of the Quezon City public schools will join the nationally coordinated strike for a salary increase,” she said.
“We will also hold a rally in front of the Quezon City Hall to protest the delay of our local allowance,” Ampuan added.
Earlier, around 300 teachers protested at the QC Hall regarding the delay in the release of their local allowance for the past four months. The delay had been caused by the transfer of their local allowance account from Land Bank to BPI Globe Banko. The QCPSTA members also charged that the bank “imposes so many charges upon withdrawal and during balance inquiries.”
Teachers in Manila will also participate in the “sit down” strike, according to MPSTA President Louie Zabala.
Earlier, ACT National Chairman Benjie Valbuena said that the strike reiterates the group’s call for a “decent and humane pay” for both teaching and non-teaching staff of DepEd. “This is a strike for justice to all teachers and employees and a strike against a deaf, blind, and insensitive government,” he added.
In pressing for wage hike, Valbuena noted that both the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers and the Salary Standardization Law III (SSL III) provide that “teachers must be given pay levels that will afford them a decent and humane living condition.”
The SSL III, Valbuena stressed, “states that our pay levels – including all government employees – must be subjected to a periodic adjustment – every three years – in order to make sure that we are well compensated.” If this provision of the SSL III is followed, he said, “a salary increase should have been implemented last 2012, given that the last increase was implemented last 2009.”
Instead of increasing teachers’ salaries, ACT lamented that the current administration even “took away” some of their benefits such as the
10,000 Performance Enhancement Incentive (PEI) which was cut in half or to 5,000. Another incentive which is being taken away from the teaching and non-teaching staff, he said, is the
2,000. Performance Incentive Bonus (PIB) which “will be implemented only up to this year.”
Aside from today’s “sit down” protest, ACT will also stage a protest in the Senate on November 19 to call for the inclusion of a salary hike for teachers in the 2015 national budget.