VOTING 199-7, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading the Security of Tenure Bill, which seeks to address the problem of contractualization.
The 7 "no" votes came from Makabayan bloc, whose members said the bill does not address the problem of contractualization, but instead strengthens it.
House Bill 6908 seeks to amend the Labor Code of the Philippines, or Presidential Decree No. 442.
Under the bill, a new Article 106-A is inserted in the Labor Code, requiring job contractors to secure a license from the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole), through the regional offices, before they would be allowed to operate.
The bill defines contractor as a sole proprietorship, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative or any other organization that performs a specific work, job or service for a principal employer.
Contractors who will operate without license will be fined P30,000 per emloyee engaged under a labor-only contracting. The licensee will be also barred from applying for a license in the future.
Article 294 of the Labor Code titled "Security of Tenure" is amended so that in cases of regular employment, the employer shall not terminate the services of an employee except for a just cause or when authorized.
"An illegally dismissed employee is entitled to immediate reinstatement even pending appeal and without loss of seniority rights and benefits, full back wages and accrued benefits provided by law, company policy of collective bargaining agreement," the bill reads.
Article 295 titled "Regular Employment" is also amended to prohibit fixed-term employment. A regular employee is one who has been hired for an indefinite period.
No employment with a fixed term or definite period shall be allowed except in cases of overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs), workers on probation, relievers who are temporary replacements or absent regular employees whose engagements shall not exceed six months, project employees, and seasonal workers.
Relievers, project and seasonal employees shall enjoy the rights of regular employees for the duration of their work. All other forms of discontinuous employment are prohibited under the bill.
Clauses in employment contracts providing for a fixed term or definite period of employment are also void. Workers under such arrangements are deemed regular employees reckoned from the first day of employment.
Anakpawis Party-list Representative Ariel Casilao said he did not vote for the bill because it "institutionalizes the practice of so-called permissible job contracting."
"The bill is prone (to) circumvention and abuse," he said.
Kabataan Representative Sarah Elago, for her part, said that "instead of resolving the issue of contractualization, the proposed Security of Tenure bill only strengthens it."
She criticized the measure for not even incentivizing employers to weed out contractualization.
“This only goes to show whose interests some lawmakers serve. Instead of strengthening security of tenure, the proposed measure strengthens the security of a contractor," she said in a statement.
Elago said the penalties should not be limited to monetary sanctions, "which rich businessmen can obviously pay."
"We have seen how SM and other big businesses have been able to circumvent the law even with these prohibitions,” Elago said.
“Let us not even attempt to deceive the workers in passing a law that does not live up to its promise of ‘strengthening’ security of tenure. The real evil is in contractualization, not only in subcontracting. What employers avoid is the regularization of employees in order to evade providing more benefits and higher wages,” she added.
Authors of the bill include, among others, include committee on labor and employment chairman Rep. Randolph Ting, Reps. Vicente S. E. Veloso, Raymond Democrito Mendoza, Mark Go, Tomasito Villarin, Ariel Casilao, Kaka Bag-ao, Emmeline Aglipay-Villar, Karlo Alexei Nograles, Jericho Jonas Nograles, Carlos Isagani Zarate, Emmi de Jesus, Antonio Tinio, Arlene Brosas, France Castro, Sarah Elago, Winston Castelo, Bellaflor Angara-Castillo, Angelina Tan M.D., Harry Roque, Aniceto Bertiz III. (SunStar Philippines)