Pulong pushes minimum wage for private hospital nurses

Recognizing the plight of private hospital nurses especially now that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to wreak havoc in the country, Deputy Speaker and Davao 1st District Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte filed House Bill No. 7569 or “Mininum Wage for Nurses in the Private Sector Act of 2020.” 

The proposed measure directs the national wages productivity commission of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) to establish a minimum wage for nurses in private hospitals.

“Despite our nurses’ big efforts, they are still paid considerably less than their counterparts in the public sector around the globe. Registered nurses receives an average salary of P9,757 a month, this paltry amount is even less than what a minimum wage earner gets each month,” said Duterte.

Recently, the government declared that nurses in the public service are entitled to a minimum monthly salary equivalent to Salary Grade (SG) 15, depending on the class of the city or municipality.

A government employee with SG15 may receive anywhere from P19,845 to P30,531 each month. A far cry from the salaries abroad, it is a huge improvement in the salaries of nurses working in the public sector.

The bill also aims to enables the State to step in to protect and improve the financial situation of our nurses who face deadly diseases in privately owned hospitals on a daily basis.

“”With this bill, we will provide adequate remuneration and benefits to compensate our nurses (even in private sectors) who are facing danger everyday in their duty as crucial frontliners in our battle against the coronavirus,” said Duterte.

“The State must ensure that nurses in the private sector are properly compensated to thank and encourage private nurses to stay rather than go abroad,” he added