by Philippine Daily Inquirer
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Thursday rejected Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) new department order that will only continue contractualization in the country.
“We cannot be a country of contractual and ‘endo’ workers. Repeal D.O. 18-A, and scrap contractual employment arrangements and ensure that workers get regular and decent employment which the Labor Code and the Philippine Constitution guarantee,” TUCP president Ruben Torres said in a statement.
DOLE’s Department Order 18-A or Rules Implementing Article 106 to 109 of the Labor, as Amended, is the policy defined and specified legitimate contracting and sub-contracting, prohibition against labor only contracting, and registration requirements for contractors, among others. Torres said that the D.O. went beyond the provisions of the law.
It is the Department of Trade and Industry that proposed the new order to DOLE and called it a “win-win proposal,” Radyo Inquirer earlier reported.
However, TUCP said that it is not a win-win but a win-lose solution — win for the employers and lose for the employees. It insisted that before the issuance of the said D.O and previous related orders, “direct hiring” by principal employers should become the standard practice, and “doing away with service or sub-contractors would effectively address the issue.”
Torres said that President Rodrigo Duterte’s policy declaration to end contractualization is very clear and the DOLE should act with haste.
“He (Duterte) understands that all forms of contractualization — under trilateral employment arrangements — are unjust, uninclusive and anti-worker. Institutionalizing bilateral employment arrangement is the correct way to do it,” Torres said.
“If there’s a new DOLE department order, it should only aim to repeal Department Order 18-A,” he added. CDG
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