More time requested on EO on ‘endo’ tack

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has asked for more time to study an Executive Order (EO) drafted by labor groups that seeks to eliminate labor contracting amid alleged threats by foreign investors to pull out if changes will be effected in the existing labor policy, also known as ‘endo’ or end of contract.

The President on Wednesday met with leaders of the labor groups from various ideoogical backgrounds in Malacañang, who were all expecting Duterte to sign the EO that would put a stop to contractualization and other schemes that employers use to avoid regularizing workers.

Luis Manuel Corral, vice president, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, dislcosed on Thursday that Duterte appealed to give him another chance to study the draft EO so that he could clearly address the concerns of foreign investors.

Based on what the President said, Corral said, the investors appear to be threatening to pull out their investments if changes were made in the country’s labor relations.

“He told us that the [foreign] investors were not used to this kind of prohibition on contracting and sub-contracting because the norm worldwide, based on their experience, is that contracting and sub-contracting [are] normal,” he said.

“This is what the President fears, that it would become a deal breaker and the investors would pull out. That is why he appealed to us to give him more time,” Corral added.

He quoted the President as saying, “I have to educate these people. I’m actually worried that they will pull out.”

But the President, according to Corral, has assured them that he wanted the issue on contractualization to be acted upon within the year even as the labor leaders said a decision has to be made soonest because it has been long overdue and the workers are already restive.

“He [President] has not pulled out of the commitment. He did not ask the language to be changed, he did not comment on the language of the EO,” he said.

The draft EO is entitled Implemnting the Prohibition of Contractualization Under Article 106 of the Labor Code of the Philippines, as amended to Protect the Right to Security of Tenure of all Workers Based on Social Justice Enshrined in the 1987 Philippine Constitution. The salient point was in Section 2. It states, “Contracting or sub-contracting when undertaken to circumvent the worker’s rights to security of tenure, self-organization and collective bargaining and peaceful concerted activities pursuant to the 1987 Philippine Constitution is hereby strictly prohibited. Security of tenure refers to the direct hiring relationship between the principal employer and employee.”

Corral pointed out that they have abandoned their earlier stance of total ban on contracting and sub-contracting, saying they were amenable to certain forms of work contracting or sub-contracting.

The draft EO was submitted by the labor groups to Malacanang on May 9, 2017 on instructions of the President after their Labor Day meeting in Davao City.