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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Pay hike or strike? Teachers set protest day

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Public school teachers in the National Capital Region on Thursday threatened to stage a huge protest action in Mendiola, Manila, to demand “decent” wages from the Duterte administration.

At a news conference in Quezon City, Vlademir Quetia, Alliance of Concerned Teachers Now Junior president, said President Rodrigo Duterte must make good on his promise to double the salary of public school teachers under his administration as one of his election promises.

“Do your promise. Substantiate the pay hike now,” he said.

On the eve of World Teachers’ Day on Oct. 4, “thousands” of teachers will hold a unity march in Mendiola and demand a “substantial” salary increase for entry-level teachers 1 from P20,000 to P30,000,  he said.

ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro slammed the huge budget slash for the Department of Education for 2020.

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The department originally proposed a P52-billion budget in 2020 but the Department of Budget and Management allocated only P31.18 billion.

Quetia took a swipe at the government for allegedly denying their basic human rights to decent wages and humane working conditions.

“Teachers do extra jobs such as selling underwear and longganiza, and moonlighting,” he said.

“The wage increase for soldiers and policemen has been prioritized. Why can’t the government do that to us?”

Aside from the low wages, teachers continued to suffer from the policies and practices that make them “overworked but underpaid,” the teachers’ organization said. 

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