DEPARTMENT of Labor and Employment (Dole) Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Tuesday told labor groups that President Rodrigo Duterte’s vow to end contractualization never meant to be encompassing, enough to cover all forms of the said work scheme.
In an interview, Bello clarified that when Duterte said that there will be an end to contractualization under his administration, he was only referring to illegal forms of contractualization, such as “endo.”
“What the President meant is that ‘no endo’ and ‘no illegal contractualization’ dahil may contractualization na allowed naman by law. Yung illegal ang ayaw ni President Duterte,” said Bello.
Prohibiting even the legal forms of contractualization, he pointed, would definitely result to a high number of companies going bankrupt.
“Total ban on contractualization, we are not likely to support that. Otherwise maba-bankrupt naman ang companies,” said Bello.
To note, illegitimate contractualization and “endo” are defined as practices, wherein the duration of employment is fixed for a short period only for purposes of circumventing workers’ rights to security of tenure, labor standards, and other basic workers’ rights.
But despite the confusion apparently caused by Duterte’s pronouncements, the Labor Chief does not believe that clarifications from the Chief Executive are warranted.
“Hindi naman nya sinabing lahat ng klaseng contractualization ay ipagbabawal. Siguro, the President expects me to do the explanation. Kami na siguro bahalang magpaliwanag sa kanilang labor groups,” he said.
Bello’s pronouncement came amid criticisms from the labor sector that the Dole is already deviating from the campaign promise of Duterte.
According to the Partido Manggagawa (PM), the Labor Department is already going soft on the issue of contractualization.
“A Department Order (DO) that deviates from the Labor Summit’s position on contractualization is unacceptable. How can a new DO go softer than the President’s order of licking the plague of contractualization?” said PM Chair Renato Magtubo in a statement.
He is referring to the unified stand of the labor sector as aired during last month’s Labor Summit for the total prohibition of contractual work arrangements.
The labor leader noted how the Dole now appears to prefer the “win-win solution” being proposed by the employers’ sector.
“Now is the time for the government to take side. Kaninong panig ba ang mas papaboran ng gobyerno? Ang end contractualization para sa manggagawa o ang win-win solution para sa kapitalista?” asked Magtubo.
To note, Bello had already committed that the Department will come up with a new policy on contractualization before the end of the year, or after their series of consultations with both the employee and employer sectors. (HDT/Sunnex)