THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers challenged newly-appointed Civil Service Commission chairperson Karlo Nograles to once and for all resolve the issue of teachers’ unpaid overtime for school year 2020–2021.

The group sought a dialogue with the new Civil Service Commission leadership to further discuss the matter and provided the commission anew with a copy of their position paper, originally filed on November 2021, over the weekend.

“We never heard back from the CSC after we complied with their request for a position paper on the subject of teachers’ overtime. This did not only prolong the hardships of teachers who are barely getting by with their meager salaries and who could’ve greatly benefitted from the grant of the overdue overtime payment, but also prolonged the injustice they suffer from being denied their basic labor right to get proper remuneration for excess work days,” said ACT secretary general Raymond Basilio.

“We hope that the new leadership deals with the matter with utmost urgency, starting with an immediate response to our request for a dialogue.”

The group has been demanding overtime pay for the 77 excess work days in the last school year, which started on June 01, 2020 and ended 13 months later on July 10, 2021.

Teachers have been tasked to render services beginning June 1 despite the opening of classses being moved to October 5 due to delays in preparations for the then newly instituted remote modes of learning.

In a June dialogue, DepEd claimed teachers indeed rendered not just 77 days but 87 days of overtime in the last school year.

However, the agency completely backpedaled later on its word and refused to acknowledge any excess work days.

“It is beyond doubt that teachers rendered services for 297 days – that’s 77 days greater than the 220 maximum allowable class days by law. As such, the government owes the nearly 1 million public school teachers overtime compensation. We continue to assert that teachers shall be granted 25 percent overtime premium and service credits for the 77 excess workdays in the last school year,” Basilio said.

Since last year, the group mounted varying forms of protests to highlight its demand.

It staged increasingly big actions at the CSC, DepEd, and even DBM to press for their overtime compensation.

It has also been gathering support from electoral candidates.

The partylist also made sure to include in its proposed priority amendments to the 2022 budget the funding allocation for teachers’ 25 percent overtime premium for 77 days, which unfortunately Congress did not approve in the 2022 General Appropriations Act.

“We will continue to demand what is due our teachers. We have met the exigency of service with unparalleled commitment, despite little to no support from the Duterte administration. We’re only fighting for what we rightfully deserve: proper remuneration for our work,” stressed Basilio.

“We hope CSC chair Nograles shares this appreciation of our plight and decide in favor of our teachers, who form the largest section of the civil service.”