Labor group: Vetoing ‘anti-endo’ bill ‘really hurt’ contractual workers, their families

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MANILA—The President's decision to veto a bill that would have given temporary workers secure employment "really hurt" laborers and their families, a union group said on Friday.

Alan Tanjusay, spokesman for the Associated Labor Unions—Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), said the group was disappointed for contractual workers who had hoped that President Rodrigo Duterte would fulfill his promise to stop "endo," the colloquial term for hiring and dismissing workers in fixed cycles.

"We are saddened for the millions of endo workers and their families dahil matagal silang umasa. They hoped for the President for so long, hoping that before the end of Duterte's term that he would fulfill his promise to address head-on the issue of poverty caused by endo," Tanjusay said Friday in an interview with ANC.

"It really hurt us because this is the President's campaign promise and he said he would not renege on his promise to end contractualization."

Duterte vetoed the Security of Tenure (SOT) bill authored by Sen. Joel Villanueva, despite his promise during his presidential campaign to stop contractualization and help in granting full-time employment status and corresponding benefits to contractual workers.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo announced the veto of the bill after retracting his statement late Thursday that the President rejected the measure.
Duterte vetoes 'security of tenure' bill, says spokesman

"So this is a non-fulfillment of his (Duterte's) promise and he's turning his back away on the workers," Tanjusay said.

The spokesman stressed the bill was a "chance" for contractual workers to "experience the economic gains the country has been experiencing."

"Mataas ang ating ekonomiya, yumayaman ang ating bansa, lumalaki ang profits ng companies, pero hindi po sila nakikinabang dito sa economic wealth na ito na sila mismo ay naging bahagi," Tanjusay said.

According to him, there is no more middle ground between the President and contractual workers.

"We don't see any middle ground because the SOT bill is the middle ground," Tanjusay said.

Duterte, he said, "might take a hit on his political capital" for rejecting the bill. - ABS-CBN News

18-m workers may lose jobs in 6 years

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The labor group Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines feared more than 18-million Filipino workers would lose their jobs in the next five to six years due to factories and establishments resorting to robotics, automation and artificial intelligence in selling products.

ALU-TUCP National Executive Vice President Gerard Seno expressed the apprehension after

Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary Rafaelita Aldaba claimed around 18.2-million workers could lose their jobs over the period of the next five to six years as enterprises shifts to automation, robotics and AI to create efficient service and more products to be competitive.

“We can confirm that workers particularly in the agriculture, retail and manufacturing are now being impacted with only one employee left operating a machine in a production line that used to be manned by five to 10 workers,” Seno said.

Seno said they were concerned that affected or displaced workers might have difficulty to cope and acquire new skills needed to cope with the innovation if government will not be able to provide adequate and inexpensive up-skilling sessions for them.

Seno is also appealing to government to provide unemployment insurance schemes or programs specially to help displaced workers mitigate the impact caused by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The DTI said around six-million workers from the agriculture sector, 3.4 million in retail and 2.4 million in manufacturing sectors could lose jobs by 2024 with more and more transition to automation and AI. - Vito Barcelo

Govt cheers deeds; labor jeers anti-SOT tack

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AS government patted its back on accomplishing regularization of 471,394 contractual workers, labor groups slammed employers for pushing for the outright veto of the pending Security of Tenure (SOT) bill.

Labor Assistant Secretary Benjo Santos M. Benavidez told the BusinessMirror the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) was already able, as of July, to facilitate the regularization of nearly half-a-million contractual workers.

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III considers this as a result of the government’s campaign.

“The regularization of almost 500,000 contractuals is a big thing,” Bello said. “It is unprecedented.”

The labor chief said these figures could still rise especially if President Duterte will opt to sign the pending SOT bill, which imposes additional restriction for contractual work arrangements.

“I am sure and quite positive we will get a positive reaction from the President. After all, this is certified [SOT] bill,” Bello said.
‘Wrong assumption’

HOWEVER, labor groups slammed employers for pushing for the outright veto of the SOT bill based on a wrong assumption.

Last week, local and foreign business groups submitted a letter to Duterte to appeal to him to junk the SOT bill, claiming it was already redundant with the provisions of Executive Order (EO) 51 and the DOLE Order 174.

Labor coalition Nagkaisa chairman and Federation of Free Workers (FFW) President Jose Matula called the assessment “unrealistic,” citing the thousands of workers who fall prey to arbitrary contractualization.

“With due respect the business leaders claiming that the old rules is enough to solve Endo, it appears they are out of touch of reality with the situation of millions of workers,” Matula told the BusinessMirror.

Endo is the acronym for “end of contract,” an illegal form of contractualization wherein workers are repetitively hired and rehired by their employers for the purpose of circumventing their right to be regularized.
Mutually beneficial

Last May, the DOLE reported it was able to facilitate the regularization of around 400,000 workers since 2016 from 3,377 firms, which were found or suspected of engaging in illegal forms of contractualization.

Many of the said employers claimed they were not aware that some of their positions cannot be legally contracted out since they are part of the company’s “core” business.

The process of determining if a position is “core or non-core” has been the subject of numerous labor disputes due to contradicting interpretations from management and labor unions.

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Spokesman Alan Tanjusay said the passage of the SOT bill will aid in ending this contentious issue.

He said it is this mutually beneficial nature of the SOT bill that makes them confident that Duterte will back the legislation.

“The SOT bill, when approved into law, as it is, will identify the jobs that can be contracted out and what are those that can only be regularized,” Tanjusay said. “This will help employers to plan better and cope with demands of the modern times.”

Matula explained the process of this determination will be done through the Industry Tripartite Council, which has representatives from both employers and labor groups.

Bello earlier said the bill was already transmitted to Malacañang last June 21 for Duterte’s consideration.

‘Unparalleled’

But even without the SOT bill, Bello said Duterte’s accomplishment on contractualization policy is already unparalleled, which is why he endorsed this achievement together with the soon-to-be constructed overseas Filipino workers (OFW) Hospital in Pampanga to become part of the President’s upcoming State of the Nation Address (Sona) later this month.

The construction of the first- ever OFW-dedicated hospital in the country, Bello said, is expected to start by July 15.

Malacañang said Duterte’s Sona this year will focus more on the administration’s poverty alleviation programs to show the government’s malasakit or concern to Filipinos. - By Samuel P. Medenilla

TUCP cites DOST-FNRI findings on malnutrition

The DOST-FNRI survey showed a prevalence of stunting among children below the age of five and that the Philippines will have to make policy interventions in order to reach the 2030 targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals to end hunger. 

MANILA, Philippines — The Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP Partylist) yesterday cited the findings of the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) Expanded National Nutrition Survey on malnutrition and child stunting as further proof of the administrative arrogance and gross incompetence of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in dismissing the TUCP wage petitions.

The DOST-FNRI survey showed a prevalence of stunting among children below the age of five and that the Philippines will have to make policy interventions in order to reach the 2030 targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals to end hunger.

“No less than the DOST-FNRI established that malnutrition is endemic. It is clear that hunger ravages our workers and their families,” said TUCP Rep. Raymond Mendoza.

The findings of the study are that the losses from children suffering from undernutrition are costing the Philippines P220 billion a year and causing over 29,000 deaths annually of Filipino children less than five years old. It added that the needed interventions will cost an estimated P4.8 billion yearly, but for every P49 invested to address undernutrition, there is a return of P587.

DOST-FNRI said the results of this survey are to be “used to address nutrition problems by crafting policies and interventions.”

According to Mendoza, “There is clearly a problem, and there is clearly a need for intervention. The refusal of the RTWPBs to acknowledge the effects of malnutrition is outrageous. If they do not fulfill their purpose then what need is there for this agency to exist?”

“Also, the 2019 Mercer Cost of Living study ranked Manila among the most expensive cities in terms of cost of living. It ranked 109 out of 400 locations, and this is alarming when you consider how this will affect the competitiveness of the Philippines in attracting businesses and investments,” he said. Manila tied with Adelaide, Australia in 109th place, according to the Mercer study.

“Our petition is centered on the need of Filipino workers and their families to be fed nutritious meals as prescribed by our very own government. They are already subsisting on survival meals without even taking into consideration the rising prices for other necessities, such as electricity and petroleum,” he said.

The petition of the TUCP for a daily increase of P710 in NCR is based on the “Pinggang Pinoy” model and the food bundle prescribed by the DOST-FNRI, which gives the breakdown of what meals Filipinos should be consuming in order to fulfill their nutrition requirements.

“Another government agency has already flagged the problem of malnutrition and yet the RTWPB persists in turning a blind eye. Nagbubulagbulagan sila (They are turning a blind eye) at the expense of our workers. Hunger is the supervening condition,” Mendoza said.

The Philippines has enjoyed steady GDP growth rate, even with the recent slow down in the first quarter of 2019. “What other justification do the RTWPBs need to grant a wage increase to those who lift up our economy? Are they condoning the exploitation of Filipino workers so that corporations can continue to generate excessive profits?” he asked.

The Social Weather Stations (SWS) self-rated poverty survey showed a record-low 38 percent of families considering themselves poor. “Many people count themselves as less poor than before. But that does not mean they can afford nutritious food. Maybe all it shows is that they can just afford flavored instant noodles and 3-in-1 coffee to continue to survive,” Mendoza said.

“We warn that this continued inaction will result in a decline in labor productivity, a less competitive economy and escalating social costs as our workers get sick, and our children – the future work force – become smaller in size and weight and have a diminished learning capacity. We are talking about the future of this country and the consequences of keeping wages low to appease businesses will spare no one,” he added. - The Philippine Star