Pimentel files bill vs labor contractualization

Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III has filed a bill that seeks to stop the prevalent practices of labor contractualization that have made it difficult for workers to attain the security of tenure guaranteed by the Constitution.

Pimentel’s Senate Bill No. 3030 aims to strengthen the prohibition against labor-only contracting, amending for the purpose Presidential Decree No. 442, otherwise known as the Labor Code of the Philippines as amended.

READ: Contractualization: Is it legal and just?

He said the Constitution provides that “the State affirms labor as a primary social economic force,” and that “it shall protect the rights of workers and promote their welfare.”

“The same constitutional provisions further mandate the rights of workers to security of tenure, human conditions of work, and a living wage,” the senator said in a statement on Monday.

But Pimentel said there are employers who “wantonly circumvent labor laws through a system that is designed to prevent workers from attaining regular employment and security of tenure.”

He said workers are terminated every five months and thereafter are rehired for the same duration or by denying the existence of employer-employee relationship by engaging the services of workers either from workers’ cooperatives or manpower agencies.

“These prevalent practices of labor contractualization have made it difficult for workers to attain the security of tenure guaranteed by the Constitution,” he said.

If enacted into law, Pimentel said his bill will put an end to the “malpractice that has victimized tens of thousands of workers nationwide.” CDG