AS BASIC commodities rise in 2023, earning P200 a day for a contractual worker becomes challenging, especially when one has been supporting their family since 2016.
Elven Cambaya works as a sacker who packs snacks for a food manufacturing company in Cebu for seven years.
As a contractual worker, his salary depends on his output where he packs over 100 pieces of chips in a plastic in order to earn P6.71 from it.
Cambaya shared that he has no choice but to continue earning P200 per day in an eight-hour shift since he has to support his family’s basic needs.
“Dili g’yud kasaigo ang sweldo na muabot... kabalo man ta sa palaliton ron, nga grabe kataaas ug kamahal, kulang gyud kaayo ang sweldo (The wage I receive every payroll is not enough... It is very clear that it is insufficient given with the high prices of goods),” said Cambaya.
When accidents happen inside the factory, he said that the company's response to the situation equates to a salary deduction once the worker comes back to render work to cover the medical expenses.
“Naa miy kauban nga nayab-an ug mantika...napaso sha sa tanan, gigastuan sha sa kompanya pero salary deduction pagbalik niya ug trabaho (We have a co-worker who was spilled with oil and he was burnt all over his body. The incident was paid off by the company, however, he was asked with salary deduction when he returned for work),” he shared.
The country continues to legalize forms of contractualization as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Department Order No. 174 series of 2017 amended Articles 106 to 109 of the Labor Code.
It did not eliminate contractualization, but it imposed stricter limitations on the contracting out of workers, as well as on other practices, schemes, and arrangements that go against the Labor Code.
This order, No. 174, prohibits the labor-only contracting mechanism, which refers to the arrangement where the contractor merely provides workers to perform a job or work for a “principal.”
According to Alyssa Sevilla, Legal Aid coordinator of Visayan Human Development Agency Inc., most companies and contracting agencies observe labor-only contracting schemes, wherein the contractual worker does not have a clear employee-employer relationship with the company that they have serviced with, or the principal.
“Dakog implication ang relationship kay mao ‘ni ang magtakda kung asa maningil ang mga mamumuo sa mga labor violations sa iyaha, sa kung asa man siya mo-demand, mag-form og complaint, ug makig-negotiate (The relationship has a great implication as this will determine where the workers will ask for accountability on the labor violations, form a complaint, and negotiate with),” said Sevilla.
Sevilla added that this is a usual practice in the industry as this allows the principal company to cut labor costs.
As stated in D.O. 174, the principal company should not be actively managing the production made by the agency workers as this is a sign of labor-only contracting.
Sevilla highlighted that the Department Order blurs the company-to-worker relationship and lessens the responsibility of the corporation on the contractual employee compared to a directly-employed one.
On June 2, 2022, Stephen Corilla, a contractual production worker at a Cebu-based food and product company, was killed after being sucked while cleaning inside the pulverizing machine when it accidentally turned on while he was still working.
The company was only penalized P100,000 for violating Republic Act 11058, also known as “An Act Strengthening Compliance with Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Standards and Providing Penalties for Violations Thereof,” and paid it to DOLE 7 only.
According to Luchel Taniza, DOLE Region 7 information officer, the principal company is “solidarily liable” for the incident as a direct employer together with the contractor as stated in Article 109 of the Labor Code.
“Bisag dili paman occupational safety, bisag wala nagtarong ug bayad sa worker, solidarily liable gihapon ang principal... dili na siya excused (It is not limited to occupational safety but also on unfair wage payments, the principal is still solidarily liable and they are not excused from it),” said Taniza.
Taniza also mentioned that agency contractual workers who are performing side-by-side tasks with the regular workers are alarming and should have been hired directly by the principal.
As of April 2023, a total of 195 contractors and sub-contractors were registered under D.O. 174-17 in DOLE Region 7 alone.
Regularization is far from reality
As stated in Article 280 of the Labor Code of the Philippines, any employee who has rendered at least one year of service, whether continuous or broken, shall be deemed a regular employee in the respective activity of their employment, and their employment shall endure as long as such activity exists.
However, Cambaya and many others are only regularized under their contracting agencies and are not fully absorbed as regular employees of the principal.
Despite this, they continue to urge legislators to amend laws that will protect them.
“Respetuon unta sa mga kompanya ang tawhanong katungod isip trabahante... Usa gyud sa among panawagan na wagtangon gyud ang kontraktwalisasyon nga mao karoy naghari, nga halos tanang trabahante kay kontraktwal (The company must respect the labor rights of the workers... One of our calls is the end of contractualization that prevails in all types of jobs and affects almost all workers),” said Cambaya.
Labor groups and organizations continue to petition for wage increases to the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board and liability on the labor-only contracting practices of companies and contracting agencies.