Dagdag-sahod sa public sector suportado ng ACT solons

LUMAHOK sina ACT Teachers Reps. Antonio Tinio at France Castro sa pulong-balitaan ng All Government Employees (GE) Unity para ianunsiyo ang kanilang nationally coordinated action sa 21 Pebrero para igiit sa administrasyong Duterte ang agarang pagkakaloob ng malaking dagdag-sahod para sa mga empleyado ng gobyerno at hindi sa 2020.

Ang All GE Unity, koalisyon ng samahan ng public school teachers, health workers at lahat ng civilian personnel sa buong bansa, ay humihiling ng P16, 000 minimum monthly salary (Salary Grade 1) para sa civilian personnel, P30,000 para sa entry-level public school teachers at nurses; at P31,000 para sa Instructor I sa state universities and colleges (SUCs).

“Our government employees can no longer wait for two more years. Salary increases for public school teachers and o-ther government employees is urgently needed,” diin ni Tinio. “TRAIN’s new taxes and the further expansion of VAT has caused unmitigated price hikes of basic commodities and utilities which are unrelentingly hitting Filipinos now, especially the majority who are poor.”

“It is the government’s obligation to ensure that all of its employees receive decent living wage. Now more than ever, President Duterte should do away with the Aquino administration’s Salary Standardization Law which grants measly increases that are quickly eaten away by taxes and inflation and gives more to those who already have more, and far less to those who have less,” aniya.

“The lowest-paid in the civil service earns P10,510. This salary, which will increase to merely P11,068 in the fourth tranche next year, plus the P2,000 Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA), is only 30% now of the family living wage (FLW) of P1,145 to get by every day, and will be a little over a third of the FLW next year,” ayon kay Castro.

Ang FLW ay halagang kai-langan ng isang pamilya na may anim miyembro, o ang average size ng low-income families.  Ito ay P34,350 kada buwan.

“Middle-level employees, such as teachers, nurses, clerks, and the rest who comprise the majority in the civilian bureaucracy, are in the same sinking boat, as their pay amounts to just around half of the FLW,” dagdag niya. “Their finances are quickly drained away by taxes, by their needs which grow more and more expensive every day, and—in the case of some employees like teachers, nurses, and doctors—even by the necessities in their work which should be provided by the government.”

Ipinunto ni Castro, ang national minimum salary na P16,000 plus PERA, ay aabot sa mahigit kalahati ng family living wage, at kikitain ito ng dalawang nagtatrabaho sa pamilya. “We demand concrete and immediate actions from the Duterte administration.  This just and long-standing clamor of government employees should be prio-ritized,” diin niya.

“The doubling of the basic pay of military and uniformed personnel was swiftly enacted with the certification of urgency from the President and the joint resolution of Congress. Our civilian personnel deserve nothing less.”

“We urge all government agencies to include the funds for the salary increase of teachers, non-teaching personnel and all rank-and-file government employees in their 2019 budget proposals. We demand that Duterte and the DBM ensure these pay hikes. We also ask our fellow legislators to support these proposals come budget delibe-rations. Lastly, we call on all public school teachers and government employees to join our march to Mendiola on February 21 to fight for the P16,000 national minimum sa-lary, P30,000 for entry-level public school teachers and nurses, and P31,000 for Instructor I in SUCs,” pagtatapos ng mga mambabatas.