MANILA -- Trade Union Congress President (TUCP) Raymond Mendoza appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to "lead from the front", on behalf of the estimated 20 million contractual workers who are awaiting passage of the Security of Tenure bill, by calling upon Senators to immediately pass the measure before Congress adjourns.
"At this moment the Senate is playing Russian roulette with the lives of 20 million workers in precarious jobs. They are the agency-hired workers, the casuals, the seasonals, the project-based, the contractuals. They are the ones who have sacrificed to 'build,build,build' our 6.1% GDP growth even as they tightened belts through the worse inflation spike in nine years," explained Mendoza.
"While we acknowledge the work of the Department of Labor and Employment in helping to regularize workers through worksite inspection, we can all do better," said Mendoza. Unofficial estimates of voluntary regularization of employees by their employers and regularization of employees through DOLE workplace inspections is between 350,000 to 400,000 workers.
"This is good work by Secretary Bello. But it is still a drop in the bucket. Having a new law will greatly accelerate the process since the new law would say that if all that is being done by an agency is to recruit and deploy workers, that is illegal labor-only contracting, and that is regardless of whether the agency has equipment or capital,” said Mendoza. "Under the new law, the workers so deployed would then be deemed regular workers of the principal who is the real employer," Mendoza said.
The House version was overwhelmingly passed by congressmen. President Rodrigo Duterte last year certified the measure as an urgent administration bill.
During the 2016 election campaign, Duterte had promised that his administration would end contractualization and the practice of 'end-of-contract' work popularly referred to as "ENDO."
Senator Joel Villanueva sponsored the Senate counterpart, Senate Bill 1826, which is set for interpellation. Majority Floor Leader Senator Migs Zubiri committed last week that it would be prioritized.
"Time is short and the water is rising over the lives and futures of our workers. This is the farthest this bill has gone. We ask the Senate to help the President fulfill his promise to our workers," said Mendoza. (PR)
