Nowhere is worker’s organizing as important as in our healthcare system. Our health workers are not just professionals, they are the frontliners that protect, nurse, and safe lives in times of national and personal emergencies. From the COVID-19 pandemic, to the small, day-to-day moments in hospital wards and private rooms, health workers are pillars of professional competence and personal empathy.

With jobs that are physically, mentally, and emotionally taxing, it is important to ensure that health workers are adequately protected. Unions in the health system play an important role in advancing the rights, dignity, and wellbeing of their members. Workers that are paid well, receive proper benefits, and enjoy full social protection are workers that are highly motivated. In the process of protection workers, unions contribute to the quality of services — which is very important in healthcare.

While AFW continues to serve as a pillar of progressive unionism in your industry, it is important that the federation remains attentive to developments in the national and international level. As the federation’s leadership and membership know from experience, many of the issues that health workers face are directly linked to the (non)-implementation of national policies on employment, labor rights, and public services. As an affiliate of the Public Services International (PSI) and the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO), we are confident that AFW will be a constant partner in our work for the defense of worker’s rights, and the public and people-oriented character of healthcare services.

We wish the AFW’s new leadership well. We look forward to our continued cooperation for the education and empowerment of the Filipino working class.