Businesses worried about SONA remarks on ‘endo’
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte’s remarks about employment practices in his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) raised concerns from business groups, who defended the usefulness of contract labor.
They distinguished between workers hired on a project or contract basis, a practice which they described as essential to help them adjust to periods of low demand, as opposed to “endo,” which is the illegal termination and rehiring of workers before they reach the six- month employment threshold, thereby denying them a path to legal benefits and entitlements for permanent employees.
Danilo C. Lachica, president of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation, Inc. (SEIPI), said while SEIPI “supports the abolition” of contractual hiring, though he “suggested” that industries such as his be permitted to hire on a project basis “because of the volatility of the demand for electronic products. There are times that the demand is extremely high and extremely low, depending on the technology.”
He added: “We are suggesting that the DoLE (Department of Labor and Employment) consider the specificity of certain industries.”
Having said that, Mr. Lachica said when it resorts to contract labor, the industry taps “legitimate service providers who will surely comply with the requirements of the law including providing (workers) with benefits.”
In his SONA on Monday, the President urged Congress to pass legislation that will stop illegal employment practices. “I am asking Congress to pass legislation ending the practice of contractualization once and for all,” he said.
Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) acting president Sergio Ortiz-Luis, Jr. said, “He has concerns about endo… The problem is that he used the term “end of contractualization.” The legislators might think that the President has taken the position of labor groups to allow no exceptions in banning contractualization.”
Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) chairman George T. Barcelon said the President “made it appear” that “endo and contractualization are the same.”
European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) president Guenter Taus said the European Union (EU) business community in the Philippines “supports the thrust of the new administration in curbing abuse of contractualization of workers in the Philippines. Not only will the end of the abuse on contractualization protect workers’ rights, but it will also remove the unfair competition posed on compliant industry players.”