PAY HIKE DEMAND Members of the Filipino Nurses United call for a P30,000 entry-level salary for nurses in October, 2019, the start of the organization’s two-day congress in Manila. —EDWIN BACASMAS
MANILA, Philippines — “Go on strike.”
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said this has been his advice to nurses allegedly being exploited by “five-star” hospitals who supposedly ask for training fees as high as P18,000 a month.
“Pag wala ka pang experience, hindi ka kinukuha, that is why karamihan sa naiiwan, yung mga baguhan at saka wala pang experience. That is why ‘yun pa yung nagiging cause for exploitation. Ine-exploit ng mga private hospitals ang mga nurses na sa halip na sila ang swelduhan, sila pa ang nagbabayad ng training fee,” Bello said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel.
(If you have no experience, you will not be accepted for jobs abroad, that is why a lot of nurses left here, are new and have no experience. That is why this is also a cause for exploitation. They are being exploited by private hospitals. Instead of them being paid, they are the ones paying for a training fee.)
“That is why I encourage nurses to go on strike para ‘di maka-operate itong mga five-star hospitals,” he added.
(That is why I encourage nurses to go on strike so these five-star hospitals cannot operate.)
According to Bello, some hospitals supposedly ask nurses to pay training fees ranging from P6,000 to P18,000 a mont.
“Ang lalaki ng hospitals, ang lalaki ng kita nila pagkatapos yung mga nurses nila, merong nagbabayad ng P6,000 a month, P10,000, malaki na yung P18,000,” he said.
(These are large hospitals who generate a lot of revenue yet they will ask their nurses training fees amounting to P6,000 a month, P10,000, and up to P18,000.)
“Kaya sinasabihan ko yang mga nurses, ‘Go on strike and let these hospitals learn the value of your profession,’” he added.
(That’s why I advise nurses to ‘Go on strike and let these hospitals learn the value of your profession.’)
Hike nurses’ pay
Bello added that his department has furnished a proposed bill to presidential son and Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte seeking to increase the salary of private nurses to the level of pay being received by nurses in government hospitals.
“Ok naman ang pay and benefits of nurses in the government sector. Yun lang ating mga nurses and medical workers in the private sector na hindi lamang underpaid, they are even exploited,” the labor chief said.
(The pay and benefits of our nurses in the government sector are ok but those in the private sector are not only underpaid, but they are also exploited.)
“That is why we have a bill, which we furnish the office of Congressman Duterte, who authored a similar bill and I hope it will be filed anytime now proposing the increase of salaries of nurses and medical workers in the private sector to the level of nurses and medical workers in the public sector,” he added.