The National Federation of Teachers’ Unions yesterday urged local governments and schools to follow Taichung’s example by giving teachers the option of receiving overtime pay instead of taking compensatory leave due to work performed at weekends, saying that the current policy is “unreasonable” and ignores the rights of teachers.
There are several reasons teachers might be asked to work at weekends, including parent-teacher meetings, accompanying students to competitions and taking part in local events such as exhibitions, federation president Hou Chun-liang (侯俊良) told at a news conference in Taipei.
Schools currently compensate teachers for working at weekends by allowing them to take hourly compensatory leave according to their needs within a year of the day worked, he said.
Photo: CNA
However, teachers are required to make their own arrangements to cover any class-related duties they might have, such as rescheduling or finding a substitute, he added.
This means that teachers have to either reschedule classes, which does not relieve them from the work, or hire a substitute at their own expense, the federation said in a statement.
Following two years of negotiations between the Teachers’ Union of Taichung, a member of the federation, and the Taichung Education Bureau, the Taichung City Government on Sept. 23 sent a letter to schools within its jurisdiction advising them to add the option of receiving overtime pay to compensate teachers who work at weekends, the federation said.
While the option should always have existed, the federation recognizes that in making the decision, the Taichung City Government is taking the rights of teachers seriously, it said.
It urged the Ministry of Education and local governments to also include an overtime pay option.
If not, they should give teachers compensatory leave that is “reasonable,” wherein the school would be responsible for covering any class-related duties and paying for a substitute teacher when necessary, the federation said.
The commitment made by Taichung should remind other local education departments that as employers, they should calculate the cost of labor when planning events and that teachers should not be treated as free labor, Teachers’ Union of Taichung director of policy Tung Wen-ni (童文妮) said.
Educational activities and students’ achievements on weekends should not be achieved at the expense of the rights of teachers, Hou said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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