THE country’s biggest labor groups were frustrated and felt neglected by President Rodrigo Duterte’s failure to lay down a clear-cut policy on work contracting and other forms of short-term employment during his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.
The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), through spokesman Alan Tanjusay, on Tuesday said 25 to 30 million contractual workers were expecting that the President will fulfill his promise to end the contractualization scheme during his speech.
“We are very frustrated with Mr. Duterte as it turned out but we have no choice but to continue and [raise]the ante in pressing him to fulfill his promise to abolish endo (end of contract) and all forms of contractualization,” Tanjusay said in a text message to The Manila Times.
He added that only the fulfillment of the President’s campaign promise and subsequent meetings with leaders of various labor groups to put a stop to all forms of contractualization can free millions of workers from the “slavery” of contractualized work , jobs that have no security of tenure and paid with low wages and meager benefits.
“Mr. Duterte asked labor groups for time on the issue of contractualization on Labor Day. We hope that he would abolish it as he promised he would during his SONA,” Tanjusay said.
“We urge the President to make clear in no uncertain terms, in plain, categorical language, his placing the contractual problem as among our—and his—top priorities in the national order of battle. All surveys indicate that the Top 3 concerns nationally are the spiralling the cost of goods and services, the meager wages and the lack of decent employment. All are directly traceable to the regime of contractualization,” according to the ALU-TUCP spokesman.
The group noted that during their May 1 Labor Day dialogue with Duterte in Davao City, the President asked labor leaders to draft a presidential Executive Order (EO).
The draft EO was submitted by the ALU-TUCP and the Nagkakaisa Labor Coalition last May 9 in compliance with the President’s directive.
Covered by the EO are contracting and sub-contracting arrangements including cooperatives.
The order prohibited all forms of labor contracting, labor-only contracting or job contracting, which are declared illegal and are therefore strictly prohibited.
It stated, “All parties engaged in any arrangement in violation of this EO shall automatically be considered the worker’s direct employer and the latter shall be deemed as direct employees.”
The order said violations of the EO shall be penalized under existing laws and regulations.
If the offense is committed by cooperative, corporation, partnership, trust, firm, association or any juridical entity, the penalty shall be imposed upon the guilty officers of such groups.
The draft EO, if approved by the President, will effectively nullify Department Order (DO) 174 of the Department of Labor and Employment, the new guidelines on contractualization that took effect last April 3.
DO 174 replaced DO 18-A in response to the workers’s demand to abolish contractualization.
Labor groups rejected DO 174, claiming that it only benefits employers and manpower service providers and cooperatives.
During his meeting with organized labor in Davao City, the President assured them that he understood what the workers want and suggested that “we assert our public interest power to ensure a just transition to help him meet his promise to the nation.”
“I stand firm on my conviction to end endo. Just give us time. The Labor Code guarantees all the right to security of tenure. This has to be strictly enforced. Labor laws must be enforced against endo and labor-only contracting,” Duterte told the workers.
The President admitted in the labor dialogue that there is “resistance and objections” coming from some members of his Cabinet and interest lobby groups on his decision to ban contractualization “but the President said he has no sympathy for oligarchs.” - By WILLIAM DEPASUPIL, TMT
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Workers fear ‘endo’ vow now on the back burner
Labor groups are seeing their hope for an end to contractualization—as what President Duterte committed on several occasions since the campaign period—dim by the day, especially with the Chief Executive opting to evade the labor issue in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday.
For Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III, however, the President has already fulfilled his promise of ending “illegal contractualization”.
“What is left now is the issue on contractualization, because what the workers wanted is that there is total prohibition,” he said. “But we told them that it is not possible because there is a law that allows employers to get contractual workers,” he added. For example, he said, if an employer wanted to get a security guard for his company, he could hire one from a manpower agency. Also, if a company wanted to get janitors, it could hire from an agency. “We cannot tell employers to stop it because we have a law on that,” he added.
But the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) disagree, which is why they were disappointed when Duterte did not mention in his second Sona how he intends to put an end to the practice of fixed-term employment. Moreover, theKMU said it is becoming obvious the President will not be able to junk contractualization under his six-year term.
“I don’t find any concrete and substantial commitment with regard to labor issues and other important issues of the masses. The President’s Sona is not for the common people,” KMU Chairman Elmer C. Labog told the BusinessMirror.
ALU-TUCP Spokesman Alan A. Tanjusay said they are still hoping for the issuance an executive order (EO) banning contractualization as a mode of employment. “Of course, [we still expect him to end contractualization], not only because ALU-TUCP wanted it, but, most important, because he promised it,” Tanjusay told the BusinessMirror.
However, Tanjusay said as much as ALU-TUCP wanted to give the Chief Executive time to resolve the labor issue, it wonders how long should workers wait for labor reforms to be enacted.
“We are willing to give him the time he said he would need in delivering the promises he made to the Filipino people, but how long are we going to wait? Until when will the workers have to hope in him?” Tanjusay added.
Duterte, during the campaign, vowed to outlaw contractualization—particularly the hiring practice known as endo—a promise that earned him the support of several labor groups. However, a year after and two Sona later, Duterte has yet to comply with the appeal of the labor movement for an EO scrapping contractualization.
What labor groups got, instead, was a department order issued in March by Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III imposing tighter regulations on contractual arrangements. Labor groups and economists have since criticized Bello’s order, saying it was redundant with existing laws and it oversimplifies the labor market.
Striking while the iron is hot, labor groups demanded one after the other reforms under the Duterte administration, including a P184 across-the-board wage increase for Metro Manila-based workers, after getting the Chief Executive’s commitment to end contractualization.
Much to the labor groups’ dismay, however, Duterte made no mention of scrapping fixed-term employment and increasing wages in his second Sona. On top of this, Malacañang has yet to divulge any information on the status of the draft EO seeking to scrap contractualization submitted by ALU-TUCP on May 9.
But Bello insisted that there is no more endo (or end of contract), a term referring to the practice of employers to hire employees on repeated five-month contracts to go around the law requiring them to hire on a regular basis any employee who has worked for them for six months.
“Endo has stopped, because the President has already told employers and managers to stop,” Bello said, noting that “when the President said there would be no more contractualization, what he meant was that there would be no more illegal contractualization”.
He said they have corrected this practice in some big companies, such as in the country’s leading chain of supermalls, “where we asked the management to regularize their salesgirls, for instance, because the salesgirls are necessary workers in the malls”.
He said the SM Group has committed to comply, “but only gradually”, the same request made by leading food chains, citing the huge number of their workers.
Jollibee, for instance, has more than 50,000 workers “and has asked that they be allowed to gradually implement regularization”.
However, Bello admitted that there were still many shopping malls, department stores and food chains that continue to violate the law on contractualization.
So far, the labor department has monitored the regularization of 61,000 contractual workers in a span of one year, or since the President announced the end of the practice of endo. - By Elijah Felice Rosales With Manuel Cayon / Business Mirror
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/workers-fear-endo-vow-now-on-the-back-burner/
For Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III, however, the President has already fulfilled his promise of ending “illegal contractualization”.
“What is left now is the issue on contractualization, because what the workers wanted is that there is total prohibition,” he said. “But we told them that it is not possible because there is a law that allows employers to get contractual workers,” he added. For example, he said, if an employer wanted to get a security guard for his company, he could hire one from a manpower agency. Also, if a company wanted to get janitors, it could hire from an agency. “We cannot tell employers to stop it because we have a law on that,” he added.
But the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) disagree, which is why they were disappointed when Duterte did not mention in his second Sona how he intends to put an end to the practice of fixed-term employment. Moreover, theKMU said it is becoming obvious the President will not be able to junk contractualization under his six-year term.
“I don’t find any concrete and substantial commitment with regard to labor issues and other important issues of the masses. The President’s Sona is not for the common people,” KMU Chairman Elmer C. Labog told the BusinessMirror.
ALU-TUCP Spokesman Alan A. Tanjusay said they are still hoping for the issuance an executive order (EO) banning contractualization as a mode of employment. “Of course, [we still expect him to end contractualization], not only because ALU-TUCP wanted it, but, most important, because he promised it,” Tanjusay told the BusinessMirror.
However, Tanjusay said as much as ALU-TUCP wanted to give the Chief Executive time to resolve the labor issue, it wonders how long should workers wait for labor reforms to be enacted.
“We are willing to give him the time he said he would need in delivering the promises he made to the Filipino people, but how long are we going to wait? Until when will the workers have to hope in him?” Tanjusay added.
Duterte, during the campaign, vowed to outlaw contractualization—particularly the hiring practice known as endo—a promise that earned him the support of several labor groups. However, a year after and two Sona later, Duterte has yet to comply with the appeal of the labor movement for an EO scrapping contractualization.
What labor groups got, instead, was a department order issued in March by Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III imposing tighter regulations on contractual arrangements. Labor groups and economists have since criticized Bello’s order, saying it was redundant with existing laws and it oversimplifies the labor market.
Striking while the iron is hot, labor groups demanded one after the other reforms under the Duterte administration, including a P184 across-the-board wage increase for Metro Manila-based workers, after getting the Chief Executive’s commitment to end contractualization.
Much to the labor groups’ dismay, however, Duterte made no mention of scrapping fixed-term employment and increasing wages in his second Sona. On top of this, Malacañang has yet to divulge any information on the status of the draft EO seeking to scrap contractualization submitted by ALU-TUCP on May 9.
But Bello insisted that there is no more endo (or end of contract), a term referring to the practice of employers to hire employees on repeated five-month contracts to go around the law requiring them to hire on a regular basis any employee who has worked for them for six months.
“Endo has stopped, because the President has already told employers and managers to stop,” Bello said, noting that “when the President said there would be no more contractualization, what he meant was that there would be no more illegal contractualization”.
He said they have corrected this practice in some big companies, such as in the country’s leading chain of supermalls, “where we asked the management to regularize their salesgirls, for instance, because the salesgirls are necessary workers in the malls”.
He said the SM Group has committed to comply, “but only gradually”, the same request made by leading food chains, citing the huge number of their workers.
Jollibee, for instance, has more than 50,000 workers “and has asked that they be allowed to gradually implement regularization”.
However, Bello admitted that there were still many shopping malls, department stores and food chains that continue to violate the law on contractualization.
So far, the labor department has monitored the regularization of 61,000 contractual workers in a span of one year, or since the President announced the end of the practice of endo. - By Elijah Felice Rosales With Manuel Cayon / Business Mirror
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/workers-fear-endo-vow-now-on-the-back-burner/
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Martial law extension or expansion will be a very expensive, unproductive experiment
The battle of Marawi has already entered its 9th week. And it won't be over until everything gets back to normal. In fact, it is the normalization and rehabilitation part of this conflict which is a bigger war to win since failure in this aspect, we believe, will only create more conflict in this highly stratified region of the country.
We anticipate, though, that Marawi will ultimately fall back into the hands of our government forces. War ultimately ends even without a victor. What it leaves, definitely, are the enormous humanitarian costs that will be very difficult to measure. The Marawi war has already claimed at least 500 lives and created more than 200,000 bakwits. Thousands of livelihoods were also lost as the city was razed into the ground by aerial bombings and fierce ground battles. Furthermore, the declaration of martial law has endangered civilians' free exercise of human rights in the entire island of Mindanao.
The Supreme Court has already ruled on the legality of the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao but the 60-day duration of Proclamation 216 is set to expire on July 22, 2017. Hence, the President, Congress and the entire nation now face a bothering question on whether the Martial Law in Mindanao should be extended or be expanded to cover the entire Philippines. The House leadership, when asked, is even willing to extend and expand Martial Law for the entire term of the President or until 2022.
NAGKAISA labor coalition declares its opposition to the extension or expansion of Martial Law based on the following grounds:
1. It is not necessary;
2. It will be very expensive;
3. It is unproductive and is a disincentive to economic progress;
4. It weakens our democratic institutions; and
5. It strengthens the hands of the totalitarians.
We find no compelling reason to warrant its extension or expansion at this point in time. We believe that lawlessness in many forms can be addressed by a highly professional and effective military/police leadership. Ensuring professionalism and quality armed services is where Presidential powers are best exercised.
Furthermore, extending this kind of war for a much longer time and carried out on a nationwide scale will become a very expensive experiment for a country whose development is highly dependent on loans and regressive taxes. It is therefore unacceptable to see the proposed expansion of VAT and imposition of excise taxes on oil, automobiles and sugar drinks funding not a social program but infrastructure for war.
Lastly, it will be very unproductive for the President to spend his remaining years in office for this costly war. War is both destruction and political distraction. It neither creates nor equally redistributes social wealth that is now concentrated in the hands of oligarchs.
The President, in other words, has a better war to wage and win against contractualization, low wages, and high prices of basic goods and services. If you want peace, Mr. President, build social justice and economic inclusion first.
Dito ka namin gustong maramdaman.
Monday, July 17, 2017
Labor hopes for abolition of job contractualization
GRASSROOTS workers remain hopeful that President Rodrigo Duterte will address their concerns in his coming second State-of-the-Nation Address, particularly their long demand for the abolition of work contractualization.
Taking the cudgels for the estimated 25 to 30 million contractual workers, the group Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), in a statement over the weekend, called on the President to address the issues of unemployment and underemployment, and the falling buying power of the existing daily minimum wage.
"The Duterte one-year honeymoon period with the people is over. It is now time for action. Grassroots workers and their families want to know from the President the Duterte roadmap to address falling wages, joblessness and underemployment with five years left in his term. We want to know [his]plan on how to make economic growth benefit workers who helped built that wealth and how he intends to accomplish them," ALU spokesman Alan Tanjusay said.
The ALU-TUCP is the biggest workers' organization in the country registered with the Department of Labor and Employment.
Although majority of its members come from the banking, manufacturing, services and agricultural sectors, it also has members in the public sector and the informal-economy sector.
According to the group, there are close to 12 million unemployed and underemployed individuals while the purchasing power of the daily pay fell from 24 percent to 27 percent in highly urbanized Metro Manila and in 16 other regions nationwide in view of a 3.4 percent inflation rate announced by the government in March this year.
It said short-term endo (end of contract) or contractualized workers, numbering 25 to 30 million working in hotels, restaurants, malls, factories and plantations nationwide are hopeful that the President would come up with an Executive Order (EO) that outlaws the temporary work arrangement.
In his May 1 Labor Day speech, Duterte asked workers for time on his campaign promise to abolish job contractualization, asking the Nagkaisa labor coalition group to draft for him to sign an EO that obliges direct-hiring, does away with labor contractors and cooperatives and eradicates fixed-term employment.
"The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer because workers' wages and benefits are inadequate. There are no new decent jobs created and if there are jobs, they carry no security of tenure and skills and jobs are mismatched. There is no trickle-down effect. There is no genuine progress because of these inequalities," Tanjusay said. - BY WILLIAM DEPASUPIL, The Manila Times
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