AFTER the first labor summit was successfully held last month, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) is set conduct this month its Visayas and Mindanao editions, beginning with the one scheduled for next Friday.
According to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello, they have already set the Labor Summits for November 11 in Mindanao (Davao), and November 18 in the Visayas (Cebu).
"We want to get as many relevant inputs as possible. Through these summits, I am confident that labor can craft a unified proposal on contractualization," said Bello.
Last month, Dole had already conducted the Luzon labor summit in Quezon City.
"We want the labor groups to provide recommendations and inputs on addressing issues concerning labor rights and standards," said Bello.
So far, he said what they have remains to be the proposal of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the employers' sector, dubbed as the "Win-Win Structure".
Under the "Win-Win Structure," workers will be hired as regulars by their contractors with full benefits, including leave credits, 13th month pay, SSS, Phil-Health, among others; workers get deployed or re-deployed to principals when needed; companies/principals will have the flexibility to hire workers as regular or outsource due to seasonality or specific functions; and strict compliance of service providers in giving full benefits to the workers.
Earlier, Bello said the new policy will be based on the proposals of both the employers and labor groups.
Still, the Dole head assured the laborers that they will be able to come out with the much-sought policy before the year 2016 ends.
"We will come up with a policy or guideline that will be enforced by the Department before the year ends. We will decide whether we will end contractualization, allow contractualization, or come up with a balance of the two positions," Bello said.
To recall, President Rodrigo Duterte had vowed to put an end to labor contractualization practices during his administration. (HDT/Sunnex)