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.

NAGKAISA! Nanawagan sa Gobyerno na Ipagtanggol ang Mga Karapatan ng Unyunista at Itigil ang Patayan at ang Red-Tagging

Ang Nagkaisa!  Labor Coalition ay kaisa sa mga biktima ng pagpatay at ng panunupil sa unyon

Hinihimok namin ang gobyerno na i-konkreto ang probisyon ng konstitusyon sa proteksyon sa paggawa. 

Nananawagan kami sa mga opisyal ng gobyerno na huwag maging kasabwat sa mga pagpatay na ito na mga produkto ng mga baliw na pag-iisip.

Wag po nating ipagkanulo ang mga manggagawa para sa pabor ng makapangyarihang sa lupa. Wag po tayong maghugas kamay katulad ng ginawa ni Pilato.

Kinokondena namin ang pagpatay kay Dandy Miguel ng KMU, Manny Asuncion ng WAC, Leonardo Ecala ng NAFLU at iba pang mga lider ng unyon na pinaslang sa limang taon ng administrasyong Duterte.

Malugod naming tinatanggap ang pahayag ni DOJ Secretary Guevarra na isang espesyal na pangkat ng pagsisiyasat itinalaga ng DOJ upang titingnan ang pagpatay kay Dandy Miguel sa Laguna noong Linggo. Sinabi niya isama niya din ang NBI upang maging bahagi ng AO 35 Task force upang siyasatin ang extra-judicial killing.

Nanawagan ang NAGKAISA! Labor Coalition sa gobyerno hindi lamang upang mag-imbestiga at mag-usig ngunit kondenahin din ang laganap na pagpatay sa mga unyonista, abugado at aktibista. Ang pagpatay sa isang tao ay para na ring pinapatay tayong lahat, pinapatay nito ang bahagi ng ating pagkatao.

Sa ilalim ng administrasyong Duterte, napansin namin na ang gobyerno ay maligamgam kung di baga parang walang malasakit. Wala ka naririnig na pagkondena mula sa gobyerno sa mga walang kabuluhang pagpatay na ito. Ang kulturang "kill, kill, kill them all " ay para bagang hinihimok pa ng pangulo. Ito ay pagkabaliw at dapat itigil ng mga mamamayan ng isang sibilisadong lipunan.

Ang NAGKAISA kasama ang FFW at SENTRO ay iniharap sa Committee of Application of Standards sa 2019 International Labor Conference (ILC), ang mga kaso ng 43 na mga unyonista na pinatay sa panahon ng administrasyong Duterte.

Napagpasyahan ng ILC na magpadala ng isang ILO High Level Mission at ang mga union sa Pilipinas ay gumawa ng maraming mga follow-up sa DOLE ngunit hanggang ngayon ang gobyerno ng Pilipinas ay hindi handa, kung hindi man tumanggi, na tanggapin ang nasabing HLM. Sa gayon, hindi tayo magsasawa ngunit patuloy na hinihimok ang gobyerno na tanggapin ang high level mission.

Natutuwa kami na sa wakas ay binasag ni Sec Bello ang kanyang katahimikan sa bagay na ito, at hinihimok namin siya na agad na gumawa imbistigasyon at:

1. Ipatawag ang NTIPC upang talakayin ang resolusyon sa pagsasama ng paggawa sa AO35

2. Ipatawag ang High Level Monitoring Body at makipag-dayalogo sa AFP, PNP, DND at DILG

Panghuli, sinusuportahan din naming ang pagsasabatas ng Senate Bill 2121 na gagawing kriminal sa "red-tagging" sa mga unyunista, abogado at iba pang mga aktibista.

Various labor centers condemn the attacks against workers, unionists, and organizations

February labor data indicates worsening employment problems – Nagkaisa!

It is not only the rate of COVID-19 infection that is rising but also the unemployment and underemployment rate. The February employment figures released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) this morning indicate a worsening trend, with the easing January unemployment and underemployment of 8.7% and 16% respectively, reversed by the 8.8% and 18.2% rates this February. 

The only positive note for the February data is the labor force participation rate bouncing back from 60.5% to 63.5%. But the re-imposition of ECQ-Series 2 in the NCR Plus bubble may simply reverse this gain in the next quarter. Likewise, the expected influx of graduates sometime this May or June would provide new entrants to the labor force with no immediate jobs to grab.

These latest employment numbers, therefore, demand serious attention and actual resolution as the government’s health and economic response can only be made effective and sustainable with the full participation of the greatest number of employed and healthy workforce. 

Hindi na maaring magpatuloy ang kapalpakan. The economy needs a bigger stimulus; thus, the proposed Bayanihan 3 in Congress should not be blocked by the Palace. Workers need jobs and basic income, hence, workers’ demand for full employment through a public employment program that provides income and employment guarantees must be incorporated into Bayanihan 3. This should be passed as a urgent measure by the government.

Itigil ang kapalpakan. Designated czars should be replaced by people of known competence in their respective fields. Repeated and prolonged lockdowns may reduce the rate of virus infection, but not the incidence of hunger and the deteriorating labor and human rights condition in the country. 

It is insanity to do the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results, to borrow Albert Einstein's words.