AN official of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said President Duterte has assured workers that his administration is against contractualization.
Labor Undersecretary Joel Manglunsod said the Chief Executive has told members of the Nagkaisa labor coalition at a meeting on Monday that his stand against contractualization does not change.
“Sinabi ni Presidente na walang pagbabago sa position niya ’nung nasa kampanya pa siya na ayaw niya sa lahat ng porma ng contractualization [The President has reaffirmed his stand against all forms of job contractualization],” he said.
The DOLE official added that the President is amendable on the proposals of pending bills in Congress that will criminalize violations of existing laws on contractualization.
Manglunsod was asked if the statement of Duterte will have an effect on the new policy on contractualization being formulated by the agency.
“Hindi, kasi kinakailangan talaga dumaan ito sa Kongreso. Ang pwede lang namin is siguraduhin na lahat ng minimum requirements para allowable contractualization sa batas ay masusunod [All these proposals, however, may have to pass through Congress approval. We assure, though, all minimum requirements for allowable contractualization allowed by law will be followed],” he explained.
Manglunsod added that they were no specific bills that Duterte will endorse.”
Meanwhile, the labor group was satisfied with what the President has told them during the dialogue.
“This chance became clearer when the President, after a three-hour dialogue with labor leaders [on] Monday evening, demonstrated empathy and understanding for the plight of Filipino workers by reiterating his position that he is not going to renege on his promise to end contractualization both in the private and public sector,” the Nagkaisa said in a statement.
They added, “The dialogue ended months of speculation in the business community that the President may only be after agencies that were practicing endo [the hiring of workers only for five months], as he categorically stated that his policy extends fully to ending contractualization through middlemen or manpower agencies.”
At the same time, the group urged their fellow workers to be on guard and monitor the actions to be taken by agencies of the government regarding the matter.
“We therefore urge our fellow workers to remain vigilant to make sure that government bodies under instruction to comply with our demands do not stray out of line. This recent advance in our struggle for decent work confirms the power of unions and organized resistance in winning the battle against antilabor policies,” they said.
The Nagkaisa labor coalition consists of 47 labor federations and workers’ organizations in public and private sectors, which includes Associated Labor Unions, Partido Manggagawa, Sentro, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Federation of Free Workers, National Confederation of Labor, Philippine Airlines Employees Association, PSLink and Philippine Government Employees Association, among others.