Congress approves bill scrapping ‘endo’

MANILA, Philippines — Congress approved Tuesday a bill seeking to end the illegal practice of labor-only contracting commonly known as “end of contract” or “endo” in the country.

During its plenary session, the House of Representatives concurred with the Senate’s version of the Security of Tenure bill. The lower chamber adopted Senate Bill No. 1826 to replace House Bill No. 6908 thereby dispensing the need for a bicameral conference committee to reconcile the two versions.

READ: Senate OKs proposed measure to finish off ‘endo’

The upper chamber approved Senate Bill No. 1826 last May 22 while the lower chamber approved House Bill No. 6908 in May last year.

Now each congressional chamber only needs to ratify the final version of the proposed measure before transmitting it to the office of President Rodrigo Duterte so he could sign it into law.

The bill seeks to amend the Labor Code to prohibit labor-only contracting – which is when the job contractor, who merely supplies, recruits, and places workers to a contractee, has no substantial capital or investment.

Labor-only contracting is also when workers recruited and supplied to a contractee perform tasks and activities that are listed by the industry to be directly related to the core business of the contractee, or the contractee has direct control and supervision of the workers supplied by the contractor.

READ: Senate OK of tenure bill bucked

Once enacted into law, the bill would require private employers to regularize project-based and seasonal workers, and give them mandated social protection benefits and payment of at least minimum wage. It would also obligate the government to provide financial assistance and training to workers in between jobs.

Likewise, the measure requires contractors to secure a license from the Department of Labor and Employment to ensure they would meet qualifications of labor laws in the country. (Editor: Katherine G. Adraneda)