By GENALYN KABILING
The days of employers engaged in illegal contractualization are “numbered” after President Duterte signed an executive order seeking to stop end-of-contract scheme or “endo” that deprives workers of job security.
The executive order, signed by the President during the Labor Day celebration in Cebu City, aims to protect workers’ right to security of tenure by eliminating abusive labor contractual practices.
The President, however, immediately recognized that the executive order was not enough and urged Congress to amend the Labor Code to effectively address the problems on labor contracting in the country.
Duterte added that he has certified as urgent a bill on security of tenure to provide long-term solutions to strengthen workers’ right to job security.
“I remain firm in my commitment to put an end to endo and illegal contractualization,” the President said during the Labor Day commemoration held at the IEC Convention Centre in Cebu City.
“I assure you that this government will never cease in its efforts to provide every Filipino worker with full, dignified and meaningful employment. They deserve no less than decent and comfortable lives,” Duterte said.
“However, I believe that in order to implement an effective and lasting solution to the problems brought about by contractualization, Congress needs to enact a law amending the Labor Code,” he added.
Reading Section 2 of the new EO, Duterte said contracting and subcontracting that circumvents the worker’s rights to security of tenure, self-organization and collective bargaining are prohibited.
He said the security of tenure refers to the “the right of employees not to be dismissed or removed without just or an authorized cause and observance of procedural due process consistent with the Constitution and Labor Code as amended and prevailing jurisprudence.”
Other salient points of the EO read by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello during the Labor Day event are:
• The EO will be applied to all parties including cooperatives engaged in any contracting and subcontracting arrangement.
– The order strictly prohibits contracting or subcontracting when undertaken to circumvents workers’ right to security of tenure, self-organization and collective bargaining, and peaceful concerted activities pursuant to the 1987 Constitution.
• The Secretary of Labor and Employment may determine activities which be contracted out, in consultation with the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council.
• On the effect of violation, the principal employer engaged in any arrangement in violation of EO shall be considered the direct employer of the workers for all purposes.
• On enforcement of labor standards and working conditions, the Labor Secretary through his representative has been authorized to conduct inspection of establishments to ensure compliance with labor laws, including the new EO.
“They shall have full access to employers’ records and premises as well as to any personnel at any time of the day or night whenever work is being undertaken therein, and the right to copy therefrom, to question any employee and investigate any fact, condition or matter which may be necessary to determine violations or which may aid in the enforcement of the Labor Code as amended, and any other labor law, wage order, or relevant rules and regulations,” Bello said.
