The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) said it plans to push for an increase in salary for nurses as Congress commences.
The federation said it will push for a P65,000 entry-level monthly salary for nurses in both the public and private sectors along with a P150 daily wage increase for workers.
The FFW is urging Congress to approve a bill by Quezon City Rep. Marvin Rillo seeking to elevate government nurses’ entry-level wages from P36,619 to P63,997.
“FFW remains committed to its struggle for family living wages, safeguarding the rights and welfare of all Filipino workers,” the group said in a statement.
The group cited data stating that there were no less than 58 bills in the House of Representatives and 21 in the Senate aiming to implement wage hikes ranging from P50,000 to P64,000.
“These wage disparities are severe and unjust. Nurses, regardless of who employs them, merit higher compensation given their crucial role and the intense physical and mental strain of their profession. We must stem the brain drain. We need to give our nurses compelling reasons to stay in the Philippines and not seek greener pastures abroad,” Manuel Payao of the UERM Employees Union-FFW said.
In its statement, the FFW also urged the Department of Health (DOH) to immediately distribute the Health Emergency Allowances (HEA) for nurses.
The United Private Hospital Unions of the Philippines (UPHUP) also urged the health department to prioritize the said benefits for healthcare workers.
“The time will soon come when local private hospitals will be in competition to secure the services of tenured/experienced nurses to man the special areas to maintain excellence on that particular field,” the UPHUP further said in a social media post.
The DOH earlier said that they are still trying to iron out the distribution of HEAs to healthcare workers.
Rillo, vice chair of the House Higher and Technical Education Committee meanwhile said a total of 18,104 Philippine nursing graduates spent a combined P200 million to take the U.S. licensure examination for the first time from January to June this year.
“The number is 123% higher compared to the 8,128 Philippine-educated nurses that took the NCLEX for the first time (without counting repeaters) in the same six-month period in 2022, in a bid to practice their profession in America,” Rillo said.
It costs $200, or P11,000, for a nursing graduate to register to take the NCLEX, or the National Council Licensure Examination, which is administered by America’s National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN).
“Our best estimate is that 46% of Philippine nursing graduates pass the NCLEX on their first take,” Rillo said.
Rillo renewed his call for Congress to pass his bill that seeks to increase by 75 percent the starting base pay of public nurses.
“Congress should not dilly-dally in raising the base pay of our public nurses who are being ‘pirated’ by other countries,” Rillo said.
Under Rillo’s House Bill No. 5276, the starting monthly pay of nurses employed by the government would be bumped up to P63,997.
In the Senate, Sen. Sonny Angara has filed Senate Bill No. 638, which seeks to raise to P51,357 the entry-level monthly salary of public nurses.
Public nurses currently receive a starting monthly pay of only P36,619.
Newly appointed Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa earlier disclosed that 4,500 permanent positions for nurses remain vacant in over 70 hospitals run by the Department of Health because there are no takers.
The vacancies do not include unfilled nurse positions in hospitals run by provincial, city and municipal governments.
Meanwhile, NCSBN data show that a total of 3,745 nursing graduates from India also took the NCLEX for the first time from January to June, along with 2,142 graduates from South Korea.
A total of 1,198 nurses educated in Kenya and 1,044 nurses schooled in Nepal likewise took the NCLEX for the first time in the first semester.