MANILA -- The regularization of over 200,000 workers will not push through as the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) was called off.
“There will be no regularization program which was committed by ECOP members. It was all a waste. The signing did not push through because the workers opposed," Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in an interview Thursday.
Bello was referring to the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, which denounced the signing of the MOU noting that it is a betrayal of the DOLE’s mission to enforce legislation against illegal forms of contractualization.
“The employees and the union did not agree. They claim it is a ploy for the DOLE not to comply with the Security of Tenure (SOT) bill. It is not true,” he said.
Senate Bill 1826, also known as the SOT Bill, aims to provide workers "security of tenure" by prohibiting rampant contractualization and labor-only contracting practices.
In a letter to Senate President Vicente Sotto III in September last year, President Rodrigo Duterte certified the bill as urgent.
Earlier, the DOLE reported that they are set to sign the MOU with ECOP that will pave the way for the regularization of employees of the group's member companies in three years.
The commitment is included in the MOU on the National Voluntary Regularization Program with ECOP.
Majority of the employees who are supposed to benefit are from the National Capital Region and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon). (PNA)
