ALLIANCE OF CONCERNED TEACHERS REGION 1 July 26, 2014 PRESS STATEMENT Reference: MR. TONY ALCAIN DAR EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION FLORANTE T. LACHICA SEC. GEN. - ACT REGION 1 UNION WE DEMAND A SUBSTANTIAL AND LIVING WAGE! WE DEMAND SALARY INCREASE NOT TAX INCREASE! Government employees and public school teachers deserve a just, substantial and living wage that will enable us to live decently and therefore we deserve a salary increase since the last salary adjustment was made way back in 2012. And even the increment hardly made a difference because the framework with which this was based on is the government’s policy to keep labor cheap and docile. The Salary Standardization Laws implemented only standardized starvation for the hundreds of thousands of rank and file government employees. Thus, we call for a P6,000 increase in the minimum pay for the public sector employees and P25,000 monthly salary for public school teachers . The Irony of the Controversial DAP and PNOY’s refusal to grant us our salary increase Since 2010, PNOY refused to listen to the agony of the rank and file employees. Several times that he refused to grant us our call for salary increase despite the unabated increase in prices of basic commodities and services. According to the President there are no available funds for such increase. But almost a year ago, the Disbursement Acceleration Fund was disclosed to the public amounting to a total of P144 billion which was sourced from the unobligated projects of the national agencies which the government referred as savings. Rank and file benefits were sourced from their respective agency savings, these benefits are meant to augment our family ’s everyday needs and alleviate the rank and file employees economic condition as our meager compensation income is not even enough for us to live a decent life. On the contrary, DAP has even denied the government employees of their much needed benefits. Such “savings” that were pooled to DAP could have potentially increase the purchasing power of workers and employees’ salary that will stimulate consumer and investment spending to boost the economy. Pressing down of salary and burdensome exaction of taxes on our benefits It is a travesty of social justice that those who have less in life are even taxed more. As the main tax base of the government, the private and public sector workers whose taxes are withheld even before they receive their wages and benefits, it is doubly oppressive that more and more schemes are being implemented to further reduce their salaries and benefits. Meanwhile, there are tax holidays, tax incentives and other exemptions for big businesses, local or foreign. For so long a time, teachers and employees had been enduring the burden of taxation. This was even aggravated by a new scheme imposed by the BIR - Revenue Memorandum Order 23-2014 which declares all benefits to be taxed including benefits given to rank and file employees under the Collective negotiations Agreement and other fringe benefits. In actuality, almost 70% of the total income of an employee went to tax. NO HOPES OF GRANTING SALARY INCREASE ON PRESIDENT’ SONA We have no hopes that the grant of salary increase will be part of the President’s SONA this year, but we believe in our rich experiences, lessons and countless victories that we achieved in the past through our collective actions. Government employees and public school teachers will storm the streets to pound congress to pass a law to increase our salary. We join our colleagues and co-public servants in the national Capital Region in their protest actions as PNOY delivers his State of the Nation Address for not addressing the plight of the government employees, education workers and public school teachers. SALARY INCREASE NOT TAX INCREASE! P6,000 INCREASE IN THE MINIMUM PAY OF ALL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES! P25, 000 MONTHLY SALARY FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS!
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 03:07:49 +0000