If P20 wage hike is not granted: Maternity workers to go on strike

CEBU, Philippines - Members of the Cebu Maternity Hospital Employees Independent Union-ADLO-Kilusang Mayo Uno have threatened to hold a strike if the hospital management insist on giving only P1 increase in the daily wage of its employees.

“Daku gyud ang posibilidad nga mag strike mi. Daku sad ang posibilidad nga ma-paralyzed ang hospital operation inig strike namo,” said Luz Tagaro, president of CPCMHI-ADLU-KMU.

The more than 90-year-old hospital has 133 rank-and-file employees wherein 110 are union members. Most of them are nurses and midwives.

Tagaro said that the union members want the management to face them in the negotiating table and implement what was approved on March 25. Tagaro said the union and the management representative, lawyer Cornelio Mercado, signed an agreement last March for a P20 increase in the daily wage of the employees for 2015 and another P25 in 2016.

However, the management allegedly rejected the agreement and insisted on its proposal to grant only P1 increase.

“That is not true. There was no agreement being made. That was a temporary proposal subject to the board’s approval,” said Mercado.

Mercado said that the board of trustees made a decision that the management cannot afford of the amount demanded by the union members.

“Minilyon ang pundo sa Maternity. Nganong piso ra ang ikahatag nga umento sa sweldo sa mga empleyado?” the union said in a statement posted at the hospital entrance.

According to Tagaro, the hospital’s financial statement shows that it can afford such increase.

Mercado said the management will not go back to the negotiating table unless the union changes its position on “money matters”.

“Sirado na man gyud sila sa ilang position and the management definitely cannot afford their demand. So, unsa man ang balikon sa negotiating table,” Mercado said.

The union also held a strike against the hospital in 1997,  a decade after it was organized.

The workers then demanded salary increase, longevity pay and two days off. The demands were all granted.

“So karon, posible mag-strike na sad mi aron ipatuman nila ang salary increase which is very minimal and justifiable,” Tagaro added.

Mercado said that should the strike happen, the board will meet again to find ways to address the problem. —/FPL (FREEMAN)