The Commission on Population Employees Association in Eastern Visayas has joined other health and science workers in the country to protest against the scrapping of their Magna Carta benefits under the proposed Salary Standardization Law.
Copea-8 president Melanie C. Alberto said that despite repeated assurances from the Department of Budget and Management that the additional benefits of health and science workers, social workers and public school teachers would not be taken away in the SSL, they will strengthen their position to oppose the plan scrapping of these Magna Carta benefits.
As part of the protest, all rank and file employees of the commission nationwide sported black shirts on Feb. 5.
Alberto said that Copea has already forged alliance with the National DoH Employees Association to push for the deletion of said provision specified under the SSL by staging protest and mass action on a bigger scale until our demand has been granted.
Popcom is an attached agency of the DoH.
Section 20 states that Magna Carta laws are inconsistent with the SSL IV provisions and “are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.”
RA 7305 grants public health workers “on call” pay, night-shift differential, subsistence allowance, remote assignment and hazard allowance, among others.