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State workers hope Senate
will approve just wage hike
Matthew Reysio-Cruz
By
@MatthewlNQ
Public school teachers and other
government workers are now
piruring their hopes on tie Senate
for a substantial salary increase
after the House appropdations
committee's "sly approval" of the
proposed zozo national budget.
House appropriations chair
ard Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab
disclosed on Monday that, in a
closed-door session, they had
unanirnously endorsed the bud-
get, which included P3l biltion for
a new round of wage hikes-an
amount public .sector unions
have denounced as inadequate.
"The House committee has
just robbed us of hope like. a
thief in the night," said Joselyn
Martinez, Alliance of Con-
cerned Teachers (ACT) chair.
"We were banking on the
2o2o budget deliberations to
give our just demand for sub-
stantial salary increase a fair
chance but our legislators
failed us," Martinez said.
'Picket at Senate
Members of ACT and other
workers under the All Govern-
mtlnt Employees (GE) Union
stormed the .Senate gates on
Tuesday to hold a picket before
joining the Senate hearing on
the pay hike.
Teachers' groups that have
called for their entrylevel salary
to be raised from P2o,754 to
P3o,ooo are acutely aware ofthe
short window they have to con-
o pyqu -Ail,
vince lawmakers to heed to their
demands, and have mounted an
aggressive lobbying campaign.
The groups are straining to
av-oid a"Jepeat of the Iast salary
increase under former Presi-
dent Benigno Aquino IIl, whose
executive order on the matter
granted them an annual raise
ofonly P5oo over four years.
If the amount for a salary
increase approved by the ap-
propriations committee was
distributed evenly among all
government workers, ACT
pointed out that it would add
up to a raise ofless than P2,ooo
in their monthly salaries.
At least 10 bills related to a
salary increase for civil servants
have been filed in the Senate,
and several ofthe legislators, in-
cluding Senators Sonny Angara
and Sherwin Gatchalian, have
advocated for at least a Plolooo
pay hike for teachers.
The Alliance of Health
Workers (AHW) expressed
hope that.the Senate would be
more deliberative.
"It is very disappointing
that the House committee
rashly approved as hearings
the budget briefings that were
conducted in the last few
weeks," said AHW president
Robert Mendoza.
Aside from the Plo,ooo pay
raise for teachers a.nd nurses,
the cE Union has also called for
aminimumwage of P16,ooo for
all government workers, some
of whom currently receive un-
derPlo,ooo. INe