THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers pressed the Civil Service Commission to act on its request for overtime pay for teachers.

The group held a “lunchtime protest” on Friday to again call the agency’s attention to their appeal for a dialogue.

ACT decried the CSC’s failure to respond to their communication for two months already.

“The CSC is violating its own rules of taking action on any request in a period of two weeks. In the past two months, we have not received any reply to our April 12 letter regarding our demand for overtime pay. The CSC should urgently address the plight of our public school teachers who are being forced to work non-stop for 13 months with rigorous workload sans ample government support under the extended school year,” Vladimer Quetua, ACT NCR Union President, said.

The group wrote to the CSC on April 12, 2021 to appeal for the grant of service credit and 25 percent overtime pay for the 77 days of overtime work public school teachers rendered during the current school year.

It sent another letter on June 9, 2021 but got no response.

“The CSC is responsible for policy-making on matters of government sector workers as it is its duty to uphold morale and efficiency in civil service, but its inaction towards our just demands erodes the morale of our teachers,” Quetua said.

He asserted that the CSC should act on the plight of teachers who have been deprived of their proportional vacation pay. He added that the Labor Code provides for the payment of 25 percent premium on the salaries of workers who were required to render overtime work.

“Our teachers are not asking for too much. Despite the burdens that we had to endure since the opening of classes and the implementation of the government’s failed distance learning last year, we continued to heed the call of service and fulfill our oath as educators. But we are burned out and underpaid, and it is high time the government takes responsibility and properly compensate us for our services,” Quetua said.