Teachers urge gov’t to pay 77 days of overtime

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s largest organization of teachers on Wednesday urged the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to compensate their members for 77 days’ worth of overtime rendered in the previous school year.

During two picket protests, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) National Capital Region Union demanded a 25-percent overtime premium and service credits for almost three months of workdays.

In preparation for the distance learning setup amid the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers were required to work as early as June 1, 2020, even though the start of classes was moved to Oct. 5.

This resulted in an accumulated 297 work days for the teachers.

Under Republic Act No. 7797, the maximum allowable number of class days is only 220 days.

The group had a multiparty dialogue on Oct. 26 last year with the Department of Education, the DBM, the CSC and ACT Teachers party list where it was asked to submit a position paper on its members’ concern.