Tragedy at Eton construction site wake-up call to end subcontracting deals — NGO

The recent death of 10 workers at the Eton Residences construction site in Makati City should prompt the Labor department to review and terminate existing subcontracting chains, particularly in the construction sector, a labor non-government organization (NGO) said yesterday.

In a statement, the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research Inc. (EILER) said the tragedy exposed the lack of moral and legal responsibility of Eton Properties Philippines Inc., the primary investor in the construction project, due to existing subcontracting arrangements.

“As we mourn the death of 10 construction workers, we also lament that Eton can easily escape liability from the tragedy due to the subcontracting arrangements. Eton would be exonerated at the end of the ongoing probe initiated by the labor department since it can easily pass blame to its subcontractors,” EILER executive director Anna Leah Escresa-Colina said.

“We urge the Department of Labor and Employment to look not just into the health and safety compliance of the construction project but also into the subcontracting schemes that Eton employs for the project,” she added.

Escresa-Colina noted big construction investors, like the Eton Properties, normally tap a web of subcontractors which employ contractual workers for specific parts of a construction project to minimize labor cost, since subcontractors generally pay lower wages. Subcontractors also usually fail to meet health and safety standards as consequence of minimizing costs.

She cited those who died from the Eton tragedy were earning only P260 a day, or way below the P404 approved minimum wage in the National Capital Region.

“What we see from the tragedy is that subcontracting chains obscure employee-employer relations, downgrade health and safety mechanisms and reduce compensation levels,” Escresa-Colina said.

“We have seen a similar experience in Hanjin Shipyard, where dozens of subcontracted workers died from work-related accidents. How many more workers should die before the government does something to protect workers from irregular and hazardous work arrangements?” she added.

EILER said there are only around 100,000 regular workers of the total 1.8 million workers in the country’s construction industry. It added 1.79 million of this figure are contractuals or project-based who are earning very low wages, citing a 2008 study by the Hong Kong-based Asia Monitor Resource Center.

The labor NGO said the Eton tragedy also calls for a review of the DoLE Department Order No. 18-2002 which legalizes labor-only contracting and other irregular work arrangements, and department Order No. 54-2004 which exempts workplaces with more than 200 employees from government inspection.

The group also reminded the government of its promotion on construction projects under the public-private partnerships (PPP) model, saying the Eton tragedy is one fine illustration of the social costs that the construction boom may incur on the safety and job security of Filipino workers, the statement said. –Pat C. Santos, Daily Tribune