Health workers demand P3,000 salary hike
There is growing support for government employees' demand for a P3,000 across-the-board salary increase. Thirty nurses at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) led health workers in having their heads shaved on September 13 to protest their low salaries. Written over their shaven heads was their demand for a pay increase. Health workers also launched a noise barrage to put forward the grievances of the 3,900 PGH employees.
PGH is the country's premier government hospital, but an employee in its utility staff only receives a monthly salary of P5,083, which is even lower than the stipulated minimum P8,000 salary for Metro Manila. Nurses receive a gross income of P9,000, which is further reduced due to deductions for income tax, Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) premiums and Philhealth contributions, among others.
Doctors likewise receive low salaries. A resident doctor earns only P15,841 a month, according to an official of the PGH Physicians' Association. They are likewise hard up because as of November 2003, it already took P16,739.70 a month or P557.99 a day to meet the needs of a family of six in Metro Manila.
Health workers at the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, Tondo Medical Center, Philippine Children's Medical Center and the Philippine Heart Center are also poised to launch protest actions.
Meanwhile, Rep. Rafael Mariano of the Anakpawis party filed House Bill No. 1064 calling for a P3,000 across-the-board salary increase for government employees.
|
