MILITANT labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP)has agreed to form a tactical alliance to intensify calls for the Duterte administration to fulfill a key campaign promise -- putting an end to “endo” (end of contract).
In a meeting Thursday, April 26, Lawyer Proculo Sarmen of the ALU-TUCP and Wildon Barros of KMU-Northern Mindanao agreed to forge the partnership to further advance the rights of workers.
"First time kini mahitabo. Nalipay kami sa ALU-TUCP-Nagkaisa nga makighiusa sa KMU ug sa uban pang labor groups aron kusganong madungog ni Presidente Duterte ang hiniusang tingog sa mga mamumuo nga wagtangon na ang ENDO (This is the first time something like this happened. We are very much happy that we are uniting with KMU and other labor groups to echo our calls until they reach to President Duterte to fulfill his promise and stop Endo),” Sarmen said.
Labor groups had expected Duterte to sign an executive order ahead of Labor Day to fulfill his campaign promise to workers but Duterte backtracked, saying he will no longer issue the order but and will only back the security of tenure bill.
"Dili sulbad sa ENDO ang House Bill 6908 o Security of Tenure Bill diin sa Article 106-A sa maong balaodnon gilegalisa lang niini ang Principal-Contractor-Employee relation nga sa esensya pagtugot sa labor-only-contracting (The Security of Tenure Bill is still not a solution because it legalizes principal-contractor-employee relation as it allows labor-only contracting)”, Barros said.
Barros said the bill will only bind workers to manning agencies or service providers. He said it is now clear that Duterte has no plans to put an end to endo and branded the government as the number 1 violator of labor laws, particularly on contractualization.
He said there are still 721,282 contract of service (COS) employees, job orders, casual, and contractual workers in government. This setting is present mostly at the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Agriculture, Department of Transportation, and the education department.