Friday, October 10, 2008 Employees' union slams salary standardization bill By George M. De La Cruz Contributor
RANK and file employees of various government agencies have recently forged efforts and condemned the Salary Standardization Bill, they claimed is "deceitful, inequitable and unjust".
Government employees' union leaders who met during an occasion initiated by the Negros Alliance of Government Employees Union (NAGEU) also threatened to join the nationwide protest rally against the standardization bill on November 10.
NAGEU is a newly-formed group of government employees' union composed of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital Employees Union-Alliance of Health Workers (CLMMRH-EUAHW), Alliance of Classroom Teachers Bacolod (ACTBA), Alliance of Concern Teachers-Negros (ACT-Negros), BACIWA Employees Union, COURAGE-Negros, and the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).
NAGEU was organized to strengthen the power of the union and unify the members' efforts in it their vehement opposition to the bill that is now being deliberated at the Lower House.
The bill proposes to divide government workers demanding for a living wage, especially the P3,000 across the board wage hike which ACTBA chairman Richard Gelangre said will only benefit those government employees who have been receiving more before.
"Rank and file employees will only be given a pitiful increase which is not enough to answer the daily needs of their respective families," Gelangre said.
COURAGE chairman Danilo Alcoriza said the bill is more advantageous to the bill proponents, executive branch of the government, the Congress and the President.
On the part of the medical professionals, the bill "will not solve the exodus" of doctors and nurses from the different government-run hospitals, said Dr. Harry Carial, president of CLMMRH-EU-AHW.
Medical workers are demanding for the implementation of the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers which guarantees just compensation for workers of state-run hospitals and medical facilities.
