Labor seeks passage of security of tenure bill
Credit to Author: WILLIAM DEPASUPIL, TMT| Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2019 17:38:49 +0000
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Friday appealed anew to President Rodrigo Duterte to urge senators to pass Senate Bill (SB) 1826 and end the contractualized work scheme before time runs out.
“Time is now running out on the President’s campaign promise to end contractualization. Without passage of the Security of Tenure bill next week by the Senate, the fight to end contractualization is lost and the President’s certification of the bill as ‘urgent, is wasted,” TUCP said.
The 17th Congress will end regular session on February 8 and will resume in May after the elections.
SB 1826 or the “The Security of Tenure and End of Endo Act 2018” seeks to amend the Labor Code on the prohibition of labor-only contracting and other provisions that allow contracting arrangements. The amendment will also clearly define the nature of the work and activities that may be contracted out.
The counterpart bill of SB 1826, House Bill (HB) 6908 has already been overwhelmingly approved by the House of Representatives on Jan. 29, 2018.
In a letter to Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd, dated Sept. 21, 2018, Duterte requested for the “immediate enactment” of SB 1826, as putting an end to contractualization or short-term employment was among his campaign promises.
TUCP President Raymond Mendoza said only Duterte could convince the Senate to immediately act on the bill, otherwise it would be placed on the back burner.
“[W]e know that a Presidential reminder gently prodding immediate Senatorial action will greatly assist in ending ENDO (end of contract),” Mendoza said.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd said he was in support of the passage of SB 1826.
The Labor department has maintained that should the duties and responsibilities of a worker be directly related to the main business of the company, such as salesladies working in malls, they should be considered as regular employees of the principal/employer.
Bello, however, said a total ban on contractualization was not possible, unless existing laws were amended, as there were legal activities which require contractual relation.
The Labor chief pointed out that the law allows the outsourcing of workers if the company does not really need them in its operations as in the case of security guards, as well as seasonal and project based employees.
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