Union to hold talks with hospital execs

Officers of the union at the Makati Medical Center (MMC) are scheduled to hold a dialogue with hospital executives following the retrenchment of some 300 personnel last Tuesday.

They are set to appeal for the reinstatement of those who lost their jobs in the retrenchment, which the hospital had blamed on financial problems. 

MMC Employees Association (MAMACEA) president Willie Pulia, in an interview with The Star, said they have requested a meeting with hospital authorities and will be facing them in a closed-door discussion today.

Pulia said some of those retrenched have already gone to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to file their complaints.

He said most of those questioning the MMC’s decision to trim down the number of its employees are those who held managerial positions.

"We, along with our lawyers, will speak with the president of MMC to discuss the case at hand," he said, noting that MAMACEA forms part of an even bigger organization of hospital employees known as the Alliance of Filipino Worker (AFW).

MMC president Gavino Mendoza, in a separate interview, said they are willing to sit down and talk with union representatives.

"We are willing to talk. I am sure we can come up with an amicable settlement," he said.

Mendoza stressed that he is not the one who makes decisions, but the management committee, which is composed of division heads, the medical director, and other hospital executives.

He maintained that the MMC carried out its decision after informing DOLE of what they had to do in order to save the hospital from financial troubles which has hounded the hospital in the last three years.

The MMC, he explained, has been spending much more than it is earning.

Mendoza said the trimming down of the hospital workforce was done after ensuring that it will not affect the quality of service to patients.

He denied reports that the MMC plans to trim down its number of personnel further by another 400 in two batches.

However, he could not promise that there would be no more retrenchments in the future, saying it will depend "on how we will do."

Mendoza, who assumed the post last June 1, said he is personally giving himself a deadline to bring the MMC back on its feet in so far as finances are concerned.

Earlier, the Securities and Exchange Commission has threatened to impose a heavier penalty against MMC should it fail to submit financial statements and other period reports on time.

MMC had come under fire from the SEC for failing to file its general information sheets for 1998 and 2001 and its financial statements for year 2002. As a result, MMC was slapped with a P20,000 fine for non-submission or late submission of reportorial requirements.

MMC, however, settled its fine last September. — Michael Punongbayan, Zinnia de la Peña