What's new about job contracting and outsourcing?

There is a lot of noises coming from the labor sector, denouncing DOLE Secretary Silvestre "Bebot" Bello III for allegedly not following the instructions of President Rodrigo Duterte to abolish altogether the entire scheme of contractualization. The radical union leaders and the moderates have entered into a tactical alliance to push for the abrogation of the newly-issued DOLE Department Order 174. This order has been awaited with so much excitement and expectation by both the employer and the labor sectors. After more than six months of waiting, Secretary Bello released the order, which, to the view of the oppositors, practically reiterated the provisions of what it seeks to replace, the Department Order no 18-A.

In fairness to Secretary Bello however, we submit that DO 174 is a much better version of regulations than DO 18-A. For one, there is a stronger deterrence against what had been condemned including such schemes like the ''endo'' and the ''55-5''. The workers should now be regular employees of the service contractors and cooperatives. And the workers do not have to end their work after five months, or coterminous with the agreement between the client principal employers and the contractors, including agencies and cooperatives. The agencies need to deploy these workers to other clients in the event that the principal employers decide not to renew the service agreement. If after three months on floating status, the workers still cannot be deployed for lack of new principals, then they have to be paid separation pay.

Also, under the DO 174, the DOLE regional offices are closely watching the following illegal or illicit things or practices; labor-only contracting schemes, in-house agency and in-house cooperatives, the nefarious practice of requiring undated resignation letters, undated quitclaims, pre-signed blank payrolls, and other schemes and machinations that are all designed to rob the workers of their labor standards benefits, to expose them to unsafe, unsecure, and unhealthy working conditions that may cause work-connected diseases, disability and death by industrial accidents. Also, being closely watched are contrivances and combinations designed to deprive workers of security of tenure.

This writer is currently involved very actively in educating the tripartite partners (labor, employers, and the government) about DO 174. Last week, I lectured in the DOLE Head Office Ople Hall, and explained to the hundreds of DOLE NCR Labor Law Compliance Officers (or inspectors) for the whole day the nuances and intricacies of the laws and the regulations on job contracting. I also spoke before hundreds of HR managers and business owners in the Global City Fort Bonifacio, in Makati and in Laguna, Cavite, and Rizal. Tomorrow, I'm flying to Bacolod for the same purpose. It is imperative that all sectors should understand the letter and philosophy of the law and the regulations. I am also a consultant to a number of banks, schools, and food and beverage companies on how to be compliant with the law, while defending the rights and interests of the business owners. San Miguel has asked me to do five days of education for all their managers all over the country. This is my role in bridging people with government on how to comply with the law.