CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is not in favor of the move to end the hiring of workers on contract basis, or what is popularly known as labor contractualization in the country.

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) 7 head Exequiel Sarcauga paid a courtesy call on Osmeña yesterday and invited him to attend the congressional hearing on the proposed labor policy.

Considering his stand on the issue, however, the mayor said he will not attend.

Ending contractual employment, Osmeña said, is not doable, particularly in manufacturing companies.

“We should help factories and export zones in the countryside to be exempt from all the labor laws,” he said.

Bills proposing security of tenure have been filed in the House of Representatives.

DOLE, though, recently approved Department Order (DO) No. 174, which prohibits labor-only contracting and specifies other illicit forms of employment arrangements. “Endo” or the end-of-contract scheme, where a worker is repeatedly hired with a contract good for less than six months, is also banned.

Ending labor contractualization in the country was among the campaign promises of President Rodrigo Duterte.