Inspection of labor contractors urged

THE LABOR Party of the Philippines, or Partido Manggagawa (PM), on Monday urged the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) to conduct an inspection of all existing labor contractors in the wake of a directive it released earlier ordering the suspension of registration of new subcontractors.

“We welcome the Dole’s Department Order No.  162 and Labor Advisory No. 10 as the new administration’s cautious first step in ending endo (end of contract). But we call on the Dole to make the bold next move of reviewing all prevailing subcontractors to ensure compliance with laws and regulation,” said Rene Magtubo, national chair of the political party.

 Control test

“Should existing service contracts and subcontracting schemes be found in breach of labor laws and regulations, especially the so-called control test, then the contractual workers must be given justice and made regular employees,” he added.

Department Order No. 162, series of 2016, issued by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and which took effect on Monday last week, directs Dole regional offices to stop accepting applications from new third-party service providers.

Labor Advisory No. 10, series of 2016, on the other hand, refers to prohibition against labor-only contracting.

Only the 5,000 to 6,000 contractors and subcontractors already registered with the Dole will now be allowed to operate.

“All certificates of registration of contractors/subcontractors issued prior to this order shall be respected,” Bello said in the one-page order.

But he warned registered labor contractors they could still lose their license should they violate government regulations.

Labor Undersecretary Joel Maglunsod said the issuance of Department Order No.  162 was in compliance with President Duterte’s campaign promise of ending during his term widespread contractual employment.

“If we will accept new applicants, it will contradict the marching orders of the President … now that we are confined with those existing (contractors), it will be easier for us in conducting the necessary assessment,” Maglunsod said.

He said the Dole would not only check on legitimate contractors for compliance, but go after fly-by-night third-party service providers as well.

The department hopes to reduce contractualization cases by half before the end of the year.

 War on contractualization

The PM has challenged the administration to wage a war on contractualization as intensely as the war on drugs. On the first working day of the Duterte administration, the PM and allied labor and church groups coalesced under the Church Labor Conference (CLC) held a rally at Intramuros to present its proposals on eradicating contractualization.

The PM and CLC also proposed the certification to Congress by the President of the security of tenure bill, urgent resolution of all pending labor cases and disputes involving contractualization, deputization of labor unionists as labor inspectors, information drive among workers and employers on labor rights especially security of tenure, and more consultation with labor groups.