Senatorial, party-list bets urged: Stamp out contractualization

Senatorial and party-list candidates in the upcoming May national elections were asked by the labor sector to present a clear plan to address contractualization.

In a dialogue and forum with senatorial and party-list bets on Wednesday, National Anti-Poverty Commission Formal Labor and Migrant Workers Sectoral Council Sectoral Representative Edwin Bustillos said that aspiring politicians should also prioritize the passage of the Security of Tenure Bill to stamp out contractualization in the public and private sectors.

READ: Contractualization: Is it legal and just?

“Topmost in our agenda is the eradication of contractualization and the passage of the Security of Tenure Bill which has been languishing in both Houses of Congress for such a long time,” Bustillos said.

In the said forum, strategies on how to address the persistently eroding job security of government and private sector employees were tackled.
READ: Why we need security of tenure

Meanwhile, senatorial bets were also able to present their platforms.
“We wish to hear their position on this matter and ask their commitment for its quick and early passage,” he added.

Aside from fighting contractualization, Bustillos emphasized the need to have a clear agro-tech policy to complement the said call in light of the recent mass layoffs of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Middle East.
“Such policy should be anchored on rural development and growth of manufacturing sector that will provide sustained jobs for our people.”

“This becomes all the more pressing as quite a number of our workers are coming home from the Middle East, being laid off due to the volatility of oil prices. We not only have to address the need for jobs of our new graduates who join the labor force, but the thousands of OFWs that would be coming home, rendered jobless from the overseas labor market,” he said. RAM