Labor groups accuse Duterte men of ‘double speak’ on ‘endo’
LABOR GROUPS have opposed the draft order of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), which intends to adopt what the administration has tagged as a “win-win” solution to end contractualization in the country.
In a press conference yesterday, Daniel L. Edralin, vice-chair for the private sector of the umbrella group Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa (SENTRO), said the DoLE’s proposal, which has previously been rejected by workers’ groups, is not aligned with President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s promise to end the socalled end- of- contract ( endo) practice.
The DoLE, Mr. Edralin said: “intends to adopt what all labor groups unanimously rejected during the labor summit — the ‘ win-win solution’ of DTI ( Department of Trade and Industry). This could signal the end of President Duterte’s campaign promise to end endo.”
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said that the draft DoLE department order (DO) “is a mere rehash of what current laws already provide.”
“It gives nothing new to workers. Change requires a DO that further restricts contractualization while a new law is needed to end contractualization,” said Luis M. Corral, executive director of the TUCP.
Mr. Coral said the country’s “economic managers” are veering away from the President’s commitment to have a new law that will prohibit contractualization.
Mr. Corral added that economic managers should stop the “double speak” and let the “straight talk of the President on his promise to certify a bill prohibiting all forms of contractualization.”
Endo refers to the abusive practice of hiring workers in successive five- month periods to skirt from the obligation of providing them full benefits mandated by law beyond the sixth month period.
Under the supposed “win-win” solution, the DTI suggested that manpower agencies give these temporary workers the same benefits as regular employees, such as leave credits, 13th month pay, retirement, social security and health insurance plans, among others.
STILL PROLIFERATE
Renato B. Magtubo, chair of Partido Manggagawa, another labor group, said: “the draft new DO may seem to restrict labor contracting to seasonal and project employment but these employment schemes may however be extended to cover jobs, work or services which are directly related to the business operations of a company.”
Mr. Magtubo said with such terms, “contractualization of labor would still proliferate in the guise of describing the job, work or service as seasonal or project employment.”
The DoLE is set to repeal the existing DO 18-A issued by the previous administration in 2011, which outlined the regulations that cover contracting and subcontracting arrangements, as well as a prohibition on laboronly contracting, in which workers perform activities necessary for business operations without benefits.
However, the draft DO, which was presented to the labor groups during the Tripartite Executive Committee of the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council last week, still recognizes trilateral employment relationship.