Party-list lawmakers refile anti-contractualization bill
THREE lawmakers on Wednesday refiled a measure banning all forms of contractualization and urged President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to make the “anti-endo” bill a priority of the administration.
In House Bill 2173, Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas, Act Teachers Rep. France Castro and Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel said job contracting, subcontracting, direct-hiring of contractuals and use of labor cooperatives are expressly prohibited with hefty fines and imprisonment.
“With HB 2173, we are seeking to absolutely end any vestige of contractualization which was first institutionalized under Marcos Sr.’s 1974 Labor Code under Articles 106 to 109. We are challenging Marcos Jr. to remove the curse of contractualization on workers,” Brosas said.
She added regular jobs and security of tenure should be the norm rather than the exception.
In regular working arrangements, the authors of the bill said the gains from the enterprise have to be shared between two parties: the workers and the company.
The lawmakers said in labor/job contracting, however, the gains have to be divided into three parties: the company, the contractor or agency, and the workers. The company has thus to share the gains with another party or parties, the labor contractor or contractors, at the expense of workers. This means lower wages and benefits for the workers.
Moreover, the entry of labor contractor has muddled the working relationship between the workers and their companies.
HB 2173 prohibits job contracting or what is currently called “lawful” contractualization, and in effect does away with the registration of contractors as allowed by the Labor Code and by the issuances of the labor department.
The measure also prohibits the direct hiring of contractuals by principal employers, subcontracting, fixed term employment, and the use of labor cooperatives.
According to lawmakers, under the 1974 Labor Code of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., father of the current President, job contracting was institutionalized in contrast to “labor-only contracting” which was prohibited under Articles 106 to 109.
In effect, they added, such decree allowed “lawful contractualization even as such arrangement still violates workers’ security of tenure.”
The authors said the same decree also introduced the concept of probationary employment for up to six months, an arrangement that has been abused by employers for the repeated hiring of contractual workers or the “endo” scheme.
Under the Labor Code passed under the Cory Aquino administration (Herrera Law), the same provisions allowing job contracting were carried over.
Moreover, HB 2173 said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) shall have the authority to investigate and require the keeping of records necessary for the administration of this proposal. It shall issue such rules, regulations, orders and instructions as it deems necessary and appropriate to carry out its responsibilities under this bill.
The measure said any violation of this proposal shall be punished with a fine of not less than P1 million but not more than P10 million or imprisonment of not less than six months but not more than three years, or both, at the discretion of the court.
It said the employer, contractor and subcontractor shall be liable to the employee or employees. No waiver or affidavit of desistance shall prevent the filing of complaints nor derail the proceedings against the employer, contractor and subcontractor.