Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate (right) agreed with the argument of the government of President Rodrigo Duterte (left) that to end contractualization in the country, Congress should change the Labor Code. INQUIRER FILES
A militant lawmaker conceded on Tuesday that Congress needed to amend the Labor Code to “totally ban contractualization” but still denounced Malacañang for not doing more.
“It’s true that Congress is needed to totally ban contractualization via the express repeal of art 106 of the labor code that allows it,” Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate told Inquirer.net in a text message.
However, Zarate added that “in the absence of a repealing law, the executive – Malacañang via the DOLE – can EXPRESSLY repeal Dept Order No. 174 that still legalizes job contractualization.”
He explained that “DO No. 174 (2017), instead of outlawing contractualization, guaranteed its continued practice, placing the workers’ lot no better than before.”
On Monday, Malacañang said it could not totally stop contractualization because it was allowed by law and it was up to Congress to change the Labor Code to ban the practice.
READ: Executive order can’t end contractualization – Palace
“Dapat talagang baguhin ang batas,” Zarate said, but added, “(ang) problema, ‘di naman isinulong ni Pres. Duterte at majority na kaalyado niya sa Congress ang tunay na job security bill. Sa halip pinatatag at pinalawig ang job contracting at ni-redefine ang pakahulugan ng ‘regular employment.'”
In a press statement, Zarate said Malacañang should have supported a “true anti-contractualization” legislation instead of backing House Bill 6908, the “pseudo Security of Tenure (SOT) Bill … passed by the House that will only lead to systematic and mass termination of current regular employees.”
Zarate said it appeared that Malacañang was “only posturing and taking our workers for a ride.”
“The little concessions the House SOT bill gives to labor will be dwarfed by the legitimization and expected proliferation of job contractors and job contracting schemes and the deletion of performing desirable and necessary jobs in the definition of regular employment,” he added.
The lawmaker also feared that President Rodrigo Duterte could retract his campaign promise to end contractualization as a joke.
“Ang masakit, baka sabihin na naman ni Pres. Duterte na joke lang ang sinabi nya dati na tatapusin nya ang ENDO at contractualization. Instead of eradicating, the administration supported bill legitimizes, even encourages and further opens the flood gates for all forms of job contracting schemes even on desirable or necessary jobs being performed by regular employees. It runs counter to the basic demand of workers both in the private and public sectors to have security of tenure,” added the Davao-based solon.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has said that the Duterte administration has banned the practice of “endo” or end-of-contract scheme where workers are hired for five-months then replaced by new contractual employees.
In the first year of the Duterte government, 50,000 contractual workers were reportedly regularized amid its crackdown on endo.
READ: 50,000 regularized, but fight to end ‘endo’ still on
However, while stressing that Duterte was set on ending contractualization, Bello said the practice could not be totally set aside.
The Labor secretary cited the case of seasonal workers, project-based employees and those in construction as belonging to the sector for contractual work.
“Capitalists can now contract out bigger parts of their production or services from job contractors, terminate and replace their current regular employees performing desirable or necessary jobs with more cheap labor, be they ‘permanent or seasonal’ supplied by job contractors,” Zarate said.
The lawmaker added, “seasonal or project based employment are also exploited to skirt the regularization of workers.”
Zarate did not say whether seasonal workers or those project based should also be regularized.
Last January, the House approved on third and final reading HB 6908, in a bid to end contractualization.
The House Makabayan bloc members opposed this bill, saying it “still allowed in essence some form of contractualization contrary to the demands of the workers and unions.”
The bill legalizes contractual labor only if allowed by the labor department, regularizes a contractual employee after six months, and provides contractual workers the same benefits as regular employees.
The measure also guarantees a probationary worker, who had rendered at least a month of service and who would be terminated ahead of the six-month probation period, a termination pay equivalent to a half-month salary per month of service.
Last March 19, House Makabayan bloc members filed Bill No. 7415 which seeks to prohibit all forms of labor contractualization in the public sector.
On Monday, Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Duterte could not end contractualization through an executive order (EO), as this can only be done through a new law amending the country’s Labor Code. /cbb
READ: Executive order can’t end contractualization – Palace