ECOP joins drive against ‘endo’

The private sector is joining the fight against abusive contractualization which the new administration has vowed to wipe out next year.

“The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) does not and will not tolerate labor-only contracting. It’s against the law and should be properly implemented,” ECOP president Donald Dee said.

President Duterte has vowed to work with Congress to put an end to labor contractualization in the country, saying the practice is “antipeople.”

Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the agency’s target is to cut by half “endo” cases this year, and eventually wipe it out completely by next year.

Bello said there is currently no need for new laws to support the country’s labor sector, saying the existing Labor Code is enough but “just needs strict implementation.”

For the private sector’s part, Dee admitted that abusive contractualization is currently prevalent in the country’s retail sector as well as in light industries.

“In the past, in order not to disrupt and not to increase unemployment, they just tolerated it. But however, what happened is that in the process of practicing that, they started also to exploit the workers by not giving the workers their proper due. These people don’t pay the necessary benefits like Pag-IBIG and 13th month pay. That’s not right,” he said.

ECOP, however, supports a properly regulated contractualization, particularly service contracting given the need of certain industries for such type of services.