5T contractors, subcontractors set for ‘endo’ check this 2016

According to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, the assessment and re-assessment program shall prioritize sectors, such as hotels, food chains, manufacturing, malls, agricultural plantation, and corporate farms

MORE than 5,000 contractors and subcontractors are set to undergo assessment from the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) as part of the ongoing war versus illegitimate forms of contractualization.

Dole Secretary Silvestre Bello III disclosed that 5,150 registered contractors and subcontractors, which employ a total of 416,343 workers, are set to be evaluated until the end of the year by Dole regional offices.

Initial target

“As initial target and based on administrative data of the Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC), Dole will assess 5,150 registered contractors and subcontractors in 2016,” said Bello.

He said the assessment and re-assessment program shall prioritize sectors, such as hotels, food chains, manufacturing, malls, agricultural plantation, and corporate farms.

“This is part of the government’s strategy to end illegitimate forms of contracting/subcontracting and other short-term employment arrangements,” said Bello.

Illegitimate form of contrac- tualization or endo are practices that constitute labor-only contracting or other work arrangements, where the duration of employment is fixed for a short period for purposes of circumventing workers’ rights to security of tenure, self-organization and collective bargaining, labor standards, and other basic workers’ rights.

Meanwhile, Dole Undersecretary Joel Maglunsod said the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) has been ordered to resolve all cases concerning job regularization inside three months.

According to Maglunsod, they have already issued a directive to the NLRC for it to fast track the resolution of such cases filed by affected workers.

“The marching order under our action plan is if the case before the NLRC is related to contractualization, the NLRC must prioritize it and resolve it within three months,” said Maglunsod in an interview.

He said they expect the number of cases involving contractual workers in the docket of the NLRC to increase given the ongoing fight by the administration versus contractualization.

“Because they employ contractual, our regional offices should issue an order for them to be regularized. There must be a negotiation and reconciliation there. In the event that it is not resolved, the case would naturally be elevated to the NLRC,” said Maglunsod.