Health workers on protest over withheld hazard pay

TAGBILARAN CITY – More than half of the entire workforce at the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Regional Hospital (GCGMRH) are on strike starting Monday, to protest the government’s refusal to release their hazard pay.

Dr. Rosendo Lopez III, president of the health workers union (Nadea) at the government hospital told dyRD “Inyong Alagad” on Tuesday that although they are on strike, all of their union members are reporting for work and in no way hampering the services at the GCGMRH.

The protest, which will last until Friday, seeks to stir public support for their demand for their hazard pay to be released which has been withheld by current Health Secretary Enrique Ona since January this year.

According to Dr. Lopez, the protest is a nationwide action by Nadea affiliate labor organizations, such as the GCGMRH health workers group, who are demanding for the DOH to recognize their right for hazard pay, as mandated under Republic Act 7305, the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers.

The allowance, equivalent to at least 25 percent of the monthly basic salary of health workers receiving salary grade 19 and below and five percent for those with salary grade 20 and above, has been withheld since January as Sec. Ona ordered for the health department to classify those workers who are actually exposed to hazards, from those who are not.

Public health workers are entitled to the benefit given the risks of their jobs to safety and health.

The DOH had issued Memorandum 2012-0002 reducing the Magna Carta benefits, reportedly in response to the General Appropriations Act of 2012, which would limit their release and subject to the approval by the Department of Budget and Management.

While some GCGMRH employees, doctors, nurses and workers are not participating in the protest, Lopez said management and most of the workforce is supporting their week-long activities.