Formation of rival teachers’ union premature, says ACT

The militant teachers’ union Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) downplayed on Wednesday the supposed breakaway of some 3,000 public school teachers in the National Capital Region (NCR) who formed a new union and challenged ACT’s right to represent the teachers and workers of the Department of Education (DepEd).

Benjamin Valbuena, ACT national chair, called the creation of DepEd Teachers Union-National Capital Region-National Labor Union (DTU-NCR-NLU) as “premature,” noting that they still needed a huge number of supporters to be able to replace ACT.

The militant group serves as the exclusive collective bargaining agent of teachers and academic personnel of DepEd in NCR. “[It] appears that [the new union] was formed with the backing of government officials to neutralize or arrest the growing militancy of teachers,” Valbuena said.

Members of the DTU-NCR-NLU claimed that ACT failed to properly represent public school teachers and to fight for their rights. —Jhesset O. Enano