Setting a 30-day deadline for the resolution of all cases involving illegal labor practices such as “endo” or end of contract was among the action plan presented by officials of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) during a Senate hearing on Wednesday.
DOLE Undersecretary Joji Aragon enumerated this action plan during the first hearing of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources on several bills that seek to end the contractualization practice in the country.
Aragon reiterated that the use of short-term employment contract whether through direct hiring or what is known as bilateral arrangement by principals, employers or through contracting out was against the law.
“To implement the President’s directive to afford full protection to contractual workers, the DOLE has been busy undertaking initiatives to pursue effective implementation of the right to security of tenure, eliminate onerous contracting and subcontracting practices such as the endo and other work arrangements that circumvent the law,” she told the committee chaired by Senator Joel Villanueva.
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Aragon said among the measures that the government is planning to undertake are the following:
- Strictly enforce compliance to labor standards, including existing rules and regulations on contracting and subcontracting arrangements;
- Assess and re-assess establishments in priority sectors “where the prevalence of endo and illegal forms of contracting has been identified” such as in hotels, food chains , manufacturing, malls, agricultural plantation and corporate farms;
- Consult key industry players “to secure their cooperation in eliminating illegal contractual and endo practices”;
- Provide appropriate assistance to displaced workers; and
- Prioritize the disposition of all cases involving illegitimate contracting.
“Lastly, to identify and resolve all cases involving contractualization and endo practices within 30 days from submission of the case for resolution,” Aragon said.
The DOLE, she said, will also work with the Senate to review the bills that seek to put an end to illegal forms of contractualizations. JE