THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers described the Salary Standardization Law a failure as it claimed that 76 percent of government workers received pay below the living wage.

“The gross monthly salaries of all civilian government workers occupying positions with salary grades one to thirteen range from P13,000 to P33,591, which fall below the current daily living wage level of P1,146 or P34,380 monthly. Totalling to 1,085,772 personnel, they compose 76 percent of all 1,435,593 filled civilian positions in government covered by the SSL, based on the Department of Budget and Management Staffing Summary for 2022,” Vladimer Quetua, the group’s chairperson, said.

“Included here are 92 percent of public school teachers who receive unliveable salaries despite their professional status,” he added.

Quetua said the SSL signed by former president Rodrigo Duterte failed to provide for the basic needs of government workers, much less improve their living standards.

“The situation calls for the urgent passing of a new law that will significantly increase the pay of low-salaried government workers and set the minimum wage in the public sector at liveable levels,” he added.

“With the consistently soaring inflation rate, salary grade 1 employees only deserve to receive a minimum salary of P33,000 monthly to afford the basic necessities for their families. Further, the pay of entry-level teachers should be upgraded to salary grade 15, from the current salary grade 11, to be at par with public sector nurses to whom their qualifications are comparable as professionals,” Quetua said.