Private school educators bat for higher wages on Labor Day

MANILA, Philippines — A group of private school educators called on President Marcos Jr. on Labor Day to raise private school teachers' salaries and to institutionalize a national minimum salary standard for them.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Private Schools said in a news release on Wednesday that private school educators' wages have a "glaring disparity" with their public school counterparts even as they have "equal workloads and perform the same roles in society."

"We urge the government to press the capable private school owners to pay decent salaries to their teachers, and support micro, small, and medium-scale private schools through a salary subsidy program," ACT Private School Secretary General Jonathan Geronimo said.

Geronimo added that teachers want the institutionalization of a minimum salary standard for private school teachers, "at par with public school teachers, to improve their standards of living amid the continuous inflation."

The group also criticized the government's current efforts to insert economic amendments in the 1987 Constitution, saying that Charter change will "worsen the country’s vulnerability to the volatile world market."

"Meanwhile, private school teachers and other members of the working class still clamor for substantial wage increase and against the continuous skyrocketing of prices of basic commodities and services," the group said.

A 2023 survey by ACT among over 100 teachers in 74 private schools and universities found most private school teachers earn less than their public school counterparts and do not have a collective bargaining agreement with their employers.

More than three in five private school teachers earn less than the entry-level salary for public school teachers, which stands at P27,000, the survey found.

Around one in four private school teachers surveyed earn less than the National Capital Region minimum wage of P620 per day.

Only out of five earned wages equal to the estimated family living wage — or wage ensuring decent living conditions — by the economic think tank Ibon Foundation, which is at P35,000.

On Labor Day, Marcos ordered a review of the minimum wage rates in every region. 

According