Makati Med nurses, staff to go on strike

Disgruntled employees, including nurses, of the Makati Medical Center (MMC) are set to go on strike in an attempt to paralyze operations of the private hospital beginning this weekend.

Around a thousand nurses, nursing aides, midwives, medical technologists, X-ray technologists, clerks and other rank and file employees will stage the strike in protest of the June 14 retrenchment that left 300 employees jobless.

Members of the MMC Employees Association (MAMACEA) filed a notice of strike before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board of the Department of Labor and Employment last week, accusing hospital officials of unfair labor practice and union busting.

MMC management had seven days to try and negotiate with MAMACEA before members would be granted the right to stop working upon expiration of a one-week strike ban. The ban ends tomorrow, July 7. 

The union expects a total halt of operations since the hospital would be losing majority of its workforce.

MAMACEA membership covers almost all rank and file employees and excludes only doctors and MMC management.

Union president Willy Pulia said management "acted in bad faith" when it retrenched, without any warning, 300 employees to address the financial woes of the hospital.

After holding dialogues with MMC officials, the union was convinced that the retrenchment had something to do with the upcoming negotiation for their collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

"We are under the impression that the hospital was using retrenchment as a bargaining leverage to undermine the existence of the union," Pulia said.

CBA negotiations are set to begin on July 15.

MMC management claimed it has been losing money for several years now and had to retrench employees to turn their around their financial situation.