More than a hundred nurses, including Filipinos, held a demonstration to protest the planned pay cut and demotion in the largest nursing home in the US.
ABS-CBN North America News Bureau correspondent Henni Espinosa reported that the nurses staged the protest action in front of the Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco, California.
“Ang hirap ng buhay ngayon. Lahat ng tao nawawalan ng bahay. We’ve been victims by mortgage. Why do we have to have a 25 percent cut,” said certified nursing assistant Julie Rosaroso.
Espinosa reported that about a thousand nurses are expected to be demoted next month, from being certified nursing assistants to patient care assistants.
The demotion would mean a 25-percent pay cut or about US$17,000 a year less per nurse but with the same workload.
She added in her report that some Filipino nurses are now getting second jobs ahead of the planned salary cut.
“If we are going to work another eight hours we will come here the following day. We cannot sleep anymore,” said Jean Aliga, another certified nursing assistant at the Laguna Honda Hospital.
Laguna Honda Bay has 1,200 beds and Filipinos comprise of about 85 percent of its hospital staff.
“It’s not that easy for us. You’re earning that much money and then you go down and we are doing everything,” said Evelyn Morales.
The nurses said they already gave up 10 paid holidays to save the hospital money.
“It’s not right. It’s not a moral or ethical thing that they’re doing but their doing it to try and save money. But meanwhile, you don’t see them taking 25 percent from managers, from police or firefighters,” said Chris Daly, San Francisco Supervisor.
Other hospital workers are afraid that will be the next.
“If they will be affected, I will be affected to because it will have a domino effect on everybody,” said Laguna Honda Hospital porter, Reynaldo Guarin. With Balitang America
