PRESIDENT DUTERTE yesterday asked labor federations to draft a new executive order (E.O.) to end labor contractualization in the country and submit the same to him for his approval.
According to Alan C. Tanjusay, policy advocacy officer and spokesperson of Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), the country’s biggest labor federation, the President gave the labor sector 10 days to complete the draft EO. Tanjusay said the President will meet the labor leaders to discuss the draft document on May 10.
The President made the move during a consultation he made with some 20 labor leaders belonging to the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, Kilusang Mayo Uno and ALU-TUCP at the People’s Park in Davao City, the center of the national celebration of Labor Day this year.
President Duterte also asked the ALU-TUCP federation to submit in writing its proposal to grant some 4 million minimum wage-earners a monthly subsidy of P500, acknowledging that the current minimum wage of P360 is no longer enough.
According to ALU-TUCP’s computation, some P22 billion will be needed annually in order to implement the subsidy to be taken from the President social fund, Tanjusay said.
Earlier on February 27, the NAGKAISA coalition chaired by Michael C. Mendoza of met with the President and discussed a dozen of labor issues, foremost of which is ending labor contractualization.
The group wants government to stop contractualization, “including those involving middlemen agency contractors and the so-called workers cooperatives,” and that “direct hiring by employers of their workers should now be the norm in the employment market.”
The coalition also asked the President to certify as urgent House Bill No. 4444 “An Act to Strengthen Security of Tenure” sponsored by Rep. Raymond Mendoza (TUCP Partylist), as an urgent Administration measure. House Bill 4444 seeks to prohibit all forms of contractualization and criminalize its violations, recommending fines ranging from P500,000 to Pl million for violators.
Aside from the issue of ending contractualization, an election promise by the President, Nagkaisa also appealed to President Duterte to do the following:
— direct the Presidential Management Staff and Secretary Christopher Go to look into the status of Convention 151 of the lnternational Labor Organization, (“Labour Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978″| which empowers government workers to organize and create their own associations and unions and to help advance immediate ratification by the Philippine government of said ILO Convention 151.
— direct the Department of Labor and Employment to resolve the five-years-and-running dispute on outsourcing between the Philippine Airlines and the PAL Employees Association.
— establish a tripartite commission to review and revise the existing guidelines and rules on wage-setting.
— appoint genuine worker representation in tripartite bodies of government and GOCCs to annual official review.
—- insist on a new power policy that will assure both the security of supply of electricity and its affordability to make our economy regionally competitive, through practical measures designed to ensure greater and genuine competition and to consider mandatory public bidding of power supply agreements and tariff formula reform,
— in the light of our tragic experience with the Kentex and HTI fires, support the initiative of the DOLE to deputize trade unions and their staff to serve as Labor Law Compliance lnspectors to validate the compliance of workplaces and employers with the official Occupational Safety and Health Standards and our minimum labor standards including observance of payment of the minimum wage, among others.
—- hold quarterly dialogues with the Labor Sector to ensure appropriate action on his marching orders and to provide workers with the opportunity to flag new and emerging concerns.
— direct the DOLE to move in the direction of prohibiting the collection of recruitment fees in the guise of facilitation fees and placement fees charged to prospective Overseas Filipino Workers as it is a heavy financial burden for the poorest Filipinos.
Mendoza also reported to the President about the group’s concern “that rogue Philippine National Police elements, in cahoots with corrupt officials of the Local Government Units and instigated by anti-worker employers, may invoke the war on drugs to camouflage the flagrant and deliberate crackdown on labor leaders and the Constitutional rights of workers.”
NAGKAISA told the President about the case of ALU-TUCP labor leader Patricio Tago, who was arrested in Capas, Tarlac on what workers believe are trumped-up drug charges. He said workers feel that it is plain and simple union-busting and intimidation that needs top level government intervention.
He said the President immediately recognized the potential danger and directed the DOLE and appropriate officials to be forewarned to forestall, prevent any and all such eventualities from occurring.
During a media briefing in Davao last Sunday, Mendoza charged that some politicians and high government officials are involved in contractualization and they are suspected to be secretly sabotaging the commitment of the President to end the practice. AMA
