1M graduates face bleak future

One million students graduating from college this year are facing a bleak future, according to the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP).

Waiting for the graduates are the same old problems of job-skill mismatch, low wages, contractualization and unsafe workplaces, the group said.

“We don’t want to give these young [people] any false hopes. We don’t want to discourage them either, but these are the issues that confront our new graduates,” Alan Tanjusay, ALU spokesperson, said in a statement on Monday.

Citing the October 2016 Labor Force Survey, which showed close to 8 million workers in need of second jobs to augment their daily income, Tanjusay said mismatch between skills and actual jobs available was the prime driver of underemployment in the Philippines.

“Graduates are also confronted with low entry-level minimum wages. The purchasing value of the current P491 entry-level daily wage for workers in the National Capital Region has eroded to P363 a day excluding mandatory social protection, salary deductions, and transportation and meal expenses,” he said.

The graduates also face precarious and prevalent job contractualization arrangements, he said.

Known as “555” (five-month contracts) and “endo” (end of contract), contractualization is a work arrangement where workers are terminated after five months and then rehired for another five months.

“Seven out of 10 of the current 41-million-strong workforce are contractuals. Workers who were contractuals more than five years ago remain contractuals, getting the same entry-level pay without security of tenure and the benefits that they are supposed to enjoy,” Tanjusay said.

“That’s how bad and massive contractualization is,” he added.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III is expected to sign an order on contractualization this week.

Bello was supposed to sign the order last week but labor and management groups asked for four days to discuss their “fundamental differences.”

Labor coalition Nagkaisa spokesperson Rene Magtubo said the proposed order was unacceptable because it still carried the “win-win” solution that workers had rejected.

Bello, on the other hand, explained that the labor department could not end contractualization.

“We have to accept the fact that there are certain works or jobs that are seasonal. We have to be ready for that, we have laws to talk about,” he said.

“Our position is, there are certain contractual arrangements that are allowed, which we intend to regulate. House Bill No. 444 will definitely prohibit and criminalize contractualization and all forms of fixed-term contracts. But in the meantime that there is a law, that’s what I’m going to do, which allows certain forms of contractualization,” he added. - By: Tina G. Santos - Reporter / @santostinaINQ Philippine Daily Inquirer

Bello rapped for defying Duterte's policy directives

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III

VARIOUS labor groups slammed Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III for defying the policy directives of President Rodrigo Duterte to stop contractualization by drafting a new department order which will still continue contractualization scheme.

The Nagkaisa and Associated Labor Unions chairman Michael Mendoza said the President instructed Bello to draft a new department order ending all forms of contractualization and do away with labor contractors who serve as middlemen between employees and principal employers.

“We are shocked that DoLE management has said that the DoLE can only regulate but not prohibit contractualization and all forms of fixed term employment. Section 106 of the Labor Code is crystal clear saying the Secretary of Labor may ‘regulate’ or ‘prohibit’ contractualization,” Mendoza said.

Members of the militant labor group Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino also condemned Bello’s latest draft of the department order that contradicts Duterte’s directive to abolish contractualization, an order he reiterated when he met with labor leaders.

Mendoza said the legal stance smacked of intellectual dishonesty and deception.

“We therefore affirm that the context of any new department order must be one of total prohibition. That was reinforced by the President when he spoke with Labor and Secretary Bello on Feb. 27. President Duterte has said he will not renege on his promise to end contractualization and abhors agency hiring,” Mendoza said.

Throughout the country, the presidential commitment to end contractualization has resonated with millions of Filipinos who for the past 20 years have labored to receive the smallest of minimum wages only to be laid off after a few months.

“Presidential Spokesman Abella’s elaboration of the President’s commitment further raised massive expectations that indeed the Duterte government would bring real change through meaningful income through secure jobs,” Mendoza said.

“We are unmoved by employers and contractors in their assertion that contractualization is allowed. The billions they have earned while their workers slave at subsistence wages are testament to 25 years of injustice,” Mendoza added. - by Vito Barcelo  / manilastandard.net

BPOs seen as ‘hotbeds’ for illegal workers

Amid the continuing controversy surrounding the arrest of illegal Chinese workers in Pampanga last year, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) yesterday raised the alarm over possible similar violations taking place in business process outsourcing (BPO) and construction industries.

Alan Tanjusay, TUCP spokesman, said the BPO and construction industries are among the sectors where there are many illegally-employed foreign workers.

"We are closely monitoring the BPOs, especially call centers, which are employing foreign nationals. We are also consistently getting reports that undocumented Chinese nationals continue to fly in to work in the construction of buildings and power plants," said Tanjusay.

He said TUCP gets these reports from companies based in Metro Manila and in Central Luzon and Calabarzon.

Of the illegal foreign workers, majority are believed to be Chinese and Koreans.

Tanjusay estimates the  number of illegal foreign workers at around 3,000.

More than 1,000 Chinese workers were arrested for working without Alien Employment Permits (AEPs) in Clark, Pampanga last November.

During last Monday's Senate inquiry on the Bureau of Immigration (BI) bribery scandal, Sen. Joel Villanueva said there is a need to review the laws on the issuance of AEPs as well as special working permits.

The TUCP, then, called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to help make sure that rules and regulations on employing foreign workers are strictly enforced.

"We urge DOLE to enforce our labor laws and for employers, especially foreign employers, to faithfully comply with the required AEP," said Tanjusay.

Under the law, foreign workers are required to apply and secure AEPs before they are allowed to work in the country.

An AEP is a document issued by DOLE authorizing a foreign national to work in the Philippines.

Tanjusay said TUCP hopes the Senate inquiry will result to the necessary changes in the policy gaps concerning the policies covering the hiring of foreigners.

"We hope the Senate hearing will result to stronger and routine inspections of workplaces nationwide so that foreign workers will also be protected against abuses of their employers in the same way that local Filipino workers are protected under our existing laws," said Tanjusay.

Aside from the AEPs issued by DOLE, the BI is also allowed to issue special working permits to foreigners. - Malaya By GERARD NAVAL January 25, 2017

Labor group calls for reforms in SSS

THE country's biggest labor group has joined calls for internal reforms in the state-run Social Security Sytems (SSS) to better manage the pension fund for more than 34 million members from the private sector.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Sunday said the SSS need not impose a 1.5-percent increase in member contributions to offset the P1,000 pension hike approved by the President last week.

TUCP General Secretary Arnel Dolendo called for an efficient collection system and a drive against companies that do not remit the SSS contributions of their workers.

"SSS must improve its collection efficiency and stop corruption in the system. What happened to those companies that deducted monthly contributions from their employees but did not remit them to the SSS?" Dolendo said in a statement.

The TUCP also called on the SSS to trim its bureaucracy and staff and rationalize remunerations and benefits for SSS commissioners and top executives.

"What SSS did not tell President Duterte is that there is still room to slash the SSS operational budget to more reasonable levels so that an additional contribution will not be required. Another issue is that in the manner SSS invests its fund, SSS must make placements more strategic to bring up the fund," the labor group added.

The P1,000 hike in pensions is only half of the original P2,000 promised by the President during the election campaign. The SSS plans to give another P1,000 increase by 2019 at the earliest, depending on the status of its fund.

The contribution rate of members will be increased by 1.5 percent, or to 12 percent from 11 percent, to shore up the SSS fund life.

Earlier, the Associated Labor Unions (ALU) called on the new leadership of the SSS to fix its system first before requiring new contributions from 14 million paying members out of the 34 million registered members.

"There would be significant improvement in the fund life of SSS if these reforms are enforced. Resorting to quick fix and the path of least resistance raises doubts about ability of SSS commissioners to trim corporate fat. We suggest to President Duterte to direct the SSS to open their books and consult with workers," said ALU spokesman Alan Tanjusay.

Tanjusay claimed workers' daily purchasing power had been reduced by at least 30 percent because of rising prices of basic commodities services. Water and electricity bills are also expected to rise, he said. - By WILLIAM DEPASUPIL, TMT