Rody tells firms: End ‘endo’ or close shop

He said the practice condemned workers to move from one job to another.

He bewailed the situation faced by security guards from agencies, many of which he said were owned by members of the military.

These guards often work 24-hour shifts when their work time is supposed to be only  eight hours, which was why they do not always perform well, he said.

The President warned these security  agencies that he would cancel their permits if they did not treat their workers properly.

“If you cannot take care of your workers, then I cannot take care of you. That’s quid pro quo,” he said.

No more inspections

According to Mr. Duterte, the government does not have enough personnel to send to all companies to check if they engage in contractualization.

He would depend on reports from workers, he said, as he thumbed down the plan of Bello  to hire more personnel to check the records of companies to see if they were involved in this prohibited practice.

“There would be no more inspections. If there’s a violation, I do not need to check. Once workers say that they were hired for only five months, there will be trouble between us, I do not care,” he said in remarks on Sunday night during a dinner with members of the Presidential Security Group.

Sending inspectors to check on the practices of companies was also prone to corruption, he noted. They may be tempted to write favorable reports in exchange for money, he added.

“I know how the system operates. I have been in the government for so long, 40 years,” he added.

Injustice

Mr. Duterte earlier promised to end contractualization or “endo” [end of contract], calling it an injustice.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said what the President was against was the practice of routinely terminating workers after five months to avoid making them regulars.

The President understands that there are jobs in time-bound businesses that lend themselves to contracts, according to Dominguez.

 Contractuals

Under labor laws, employment is deemed permanent after six months. According to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, there are around 25 million contractual workers in the country.

The labor department itself has acknowledged that a third of the country’s total workforce in small and medium enterprises are nonregular laborers.

Mr. Duterte spoke to reporters after swearing in newly appointed department undersecretaries.

In June, he said he would refrain from talking to the media after he was accused of condoning the assassination of allegedly corrupt journalists and watchdog press groups called for a boycott of his news conferences.

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