Bello urges contractors to support labor inspection

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III urged local service contractors to help in the nationwide inspection of establishments’ compliance with labor laws by being part of the pool of volunteer assessors. (Photo: Ilagan City, Isabela/Facebook)

MANILA—Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III urged local service contractors to help in the nationwide inspection of establishments’ compliance with labor laws by being part of the pool of volunteer assessors.

In his message to the founding anniversary of the Philippine Association of Legitimate Service Contractors (PALSCON) last week, Bello said DOLE is deputizing members from labor and management sectors to help in assessing business establishments’ compliance to labor laws.

“Since we lack inspectors, we are requesting both labor and management, including your group, to nominate so that you can be part of our inspection team,” Bello said.

He added that there are only 525 Labor Laws Compliance Officers (LLCOs) conducting inspection and assessment for more than 900,000 business establishments in the country.

“Even if we include the additional 200 plantilla positions given by the President, the figure is still inadequate to inspect business establishments in the country. So, with your help, along with those from the labor and management groups, we can see to it that compliance with the labor standards will be strictly observed,” Bello said.

DOLE, through an administrative order, has already set the qualifications and requirements for workers to be part of its assessment team for labor laws compliance.

Under the order, only qualified members of legitimate labor organizations, labor associations, chartered locals, national union/federation, accredited integrated professional organization/accredited professional organization, non-government organization, and employer’s organization, may participate in the assessment activities, including attendance to mandatory conferences.

The qualified members will also be obliged to attend training programs set by the DOLE. Only those who will successfully complete and pass the program can be issued with the ‘Authority to Assess’.

The authority has a validity of until the end of the year and may be revoked if a threat or coercion of workers, or any other ground prejudicial to public service, were found by DOLE.

“This commissioning of labor and employers groups representatives is one of our strategies to curtail the practice of ‘endo’ and other illegal forms of contractualization,” said Bello.