Employees ask Dole: What’s contractualization?

The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) will be conducting seminars for employers on contractual employment after several employers’ groups have requested the department to educate them on what contractual employment is, according to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

“I’ve already met with the management groups, like the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce, Filipino-Chinese Chamber. They were asking for time to understand what ‘endo’ and contractualization means. I see no problem with that. We will conduct seminars for them,” Bello said in an interview before he left for Saudi Arabia to assist in the repatriation of stranded overseas Filipino workers in the oil-rich country.

“They requested that if possible, we familiarize them with the meaning of endo and contractualization. Obviously, they get confused with those terms. So they asked for one month. After that, they committed to comply with the provisions of the law on endo and contractualization. I think it will also make our work easier,” he added.

“Contractualization is when you farm out your employees. Like for example, in malls, the sales girls are not their employees. They are being sourced from agencies,” Bello explained.

“Under endo or end of contract, you hire somebody. Under the law they are given a period of six months, which is called the probationary period. And within the six months if the em ployees meet the standards of the company then they will become regular after six months. But what the employers do is that they fire these employees after five months,” he said.

Bello said the employers’ groups had promised to police their own ranks after the seminars.