Leni urges labor, employers to ‘compromise’ on contractualization

Vice President Leni Robredo. AP FILE PHOTO

Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo on Sunday said a compromise should be reached between workers and employers over the long-standing issue of contractualization in the country.

“Napakatagal na nitong isyu na tingin ko kailangan na talagang harapin,” she said in her weekly radio show, BISErbisyong LENI, on RMN-DZXL 558.

“Alam na alam natin iyong sigaw ng mga manggagawa; meron ding reklamo ang mga employer. Kaya kailangan talagang upuan, ibalanse — upuan na, kumbaga, hindi nababawasan iyong security of tenure ng mga manggagawa, na hindi rin naman ikakalugi ng mga employers,” she added.

Robredo said the two sectors should sit and discuss their issues and come up with a possible compromise and solution.

The Vice President’s remarks came after Malacañang announced that President Rodrigo Duterte would no longer be signing an executive order against endo, or the “end of contract” hiring practice, where companies let go of workers before they complete six months of service.

The government, labor and employers tried hammering out an executive order (EO) to end contractualization. The EO was supposed to be signed on May 1, Labor Day.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said three draft EOs were submitted to Malacañang for approval but labor and management could not agree on certain key points.

“One draft proposes a total prohibition; another draft proposes a regulation of contractual arrangement; and another draft basically has the same effect but labor and management could not agree on the use of the term ‘principal’ employer,” Medialdea said.

The labor sector prepared a draft EO on the request of the President. Employers’ groups and the Department of Trade and Industry came up with another draft.

Business groups were against the labor sector’s draft, saying it would make direct hiring the general norm in employment relations. This would scare off investors, they said.

Employers have insisted that the Labor Code allows contractualization, which can only be scrapped or amended by Congress.

READ: No EO ending ‘endo’ on Labor Day – Palace

Amid the deadlock, the Palace said the President decided to leave the matter to Congress.

Duterte also ordered the Department of Labor and Employment to fully implement Department Order No. 174, which bans the “5-5-5” scheme where some employers hire workers for five months then terminates them by ending their contract (endo).

“The promise of the President is that while the definition of contractualization does not prohibit everything, he will make sure that there would be no 5-5-5, or ‘cabo’ (labor-only contracting entity),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said. /cbb

READ: Sans EO on ‘endo,’ Duterte still going after ‘5-5-5’ companies