Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Labor Coalition Calls on Congress to Extend or Improve Healthcare Workers' Compensation, Family Survivorship Assistance

The NAGKAISA Labor Coalition  recognizes that the Healthcare workers directly experience the staggering  death toll and the on-going impact on the physical and mental health at the frontlines of the fight against the CoVID 19 pandemic.

Despite the many risks, lack of resources, long hours of work, and government inefficiencies, our real-life heroes continue to do their jobs, diligently and selflessly providing healthcare assistance to the Filipino people who need it most.

"We call on the house and the senate to continue or extent after June 30 the grant to public and private healthcare worker who contracts severe CoVID-19 infection while in the line of duty to a P100,000 compensation; and, in case of his or her death,  to one million pesos (P1,000,000)  for his or her family as survivorship benefit," said Alliance of Filipino Workers (AFW-SENTRO) President Willy Pulia, who is a nursing aid working at the Makati Medical Center.

"The continuing outburst and unchained spread of CoVID 19 requires the continuing inclusion of the 100,000 pesos compensation and 1million pesos safety net for the family of a healthcare worker who would not survive in battling this dreaded virus," added Trade Federation  Chairperson  Manuel Payao of the Hospital and educational institutions unions of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW).

"Though we are not wishing anyone to sacrifice one's life,  thousands of us contracted severe illness and hundreds  succumbed to death in the line of duty, we need  to recognize these sacrifices and extend assistance to the family survivors in case of their untimely demise, a supreme sacrifice for their families," added Payao, who is also a registered nurse and union president of the UERM Employees Union-FFW in Quezon City.

NAGKAISA also urges government to grant hazard pay to all frontline workers and quarantine leave to all suspected, infected or in anyway affected  by CoVID 19.

"While these kinds of benefit and assistance may not be equal to the weight of their care and concerned with the needs of their patients, neither  enough to recognize all their sacrifices  at this time of pandemic; we hold that, as a grateful nation, we need to profusely  manifest our gratefulness to their heroic deeds by continuing or improving benefits given to them under Bayanihan 1," opined Union President Phoebe Acuril of FFW and who is a nursing aid at the Capiz Emmanuel Hospital in Capiz City.

"Further, NAGKAISA calls on the Employees  Compensation Commission (ECC) to consider CoVID 19 as an occupational disease, particularly so if the employee works in the hospital, medical institution and other healthcare sector as well  as other frontline activities during the time of pandemic," added Rudy Ladiao, NAGKAISA Convenor and General Secretary  of the the Unified Filipino service Workers (UFSW), the bargaining agent of the employees  at the Philippine Chinese General Hospital and Medical  Center in Manila.

No comments:

Post a Comment