House eyes ‘no-endo, no-strike’ compromise

BAGUIO CITY—The business community may agree to grant job tenure to all contractual employees in exchange for a 10-year strike moratorium, according to the House committee on labor and employment.

Addressing the committee’s first public hearing on the security of tenure for private sector workers on Friday, committee chair Cagayan Rep. Randolph Ting asked labor groups and employers to submit their reactions to the “suggestion” the committee received in October.

Ting said the suggestion to include the strike moratorium in measures to end contractualization came from a businessman associated with a big employers’ group and was relayed to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

“We don’t know if it was floated in jest or if it was serious, but the committee decided to collect all suggestions, and open them up for public discussions,” Ting said on the sidelines of the hearing.

Employers’ and labor representatives gave no formal reaction.

The hearing tackled 21 proposed measures on President Duterte’s policy declaration to ban all forms of contractualization.

Most of the participants who spoke were members or associates of the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno, who testified about alleged service contract violations by local garments manufacturers and mining firms in Baguio and Benguet province.

They supported Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao’s proposed nationwide ban on contractualization.