Health workers to mount ‘Black Hearts Day’ protest

Rhodina Villanueva – The Philippine Star February 13, 2024 | 12:00am MANILA, Philippines — Health care workers will hold a nationwide protest on Valentine’s Day, dubbed the “Black Hearts Day Protest,” to demand a salary increase and the release of their overdue benefits and allowances. “The current situation of health workers continues to worsen – with low salaries, unpaid and inadequate benefits, job insecurity, high taxes and being overworked due to chronic understaffing,” Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) national president Robert Mendoza said at a press briefing yesterday. “The health care budget is extremely low and the government continuously neglects the welfare of health workers and the health of the people,” he added. The budget used for Charter change through a people’s initiative campaign should have been spent to raise the salary of health care workers and government employees, according to the Philippine Heart Center Employees Association-AHW. “It’s been a long time now that no substantial salary increase was implemented among our ranks. The salary grade 1 health worker/government employee earns P13,000 monthly but with the high cost of living nowadays, it is no longer enough to meet our daily needs,” said Sally Ejes, the group’s president. “We demand a...