As Filipinos celebrated Labor Day, Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo on Wednesday, May 1, joined calls for an end to illegal contractualization in the country.
“Ngayong Mayo Uno, magkaisa tayo na wakasan na ang ENDO at kontraktwalisasyon (Today, May 1, let us unite to end endo and contractualization),” Robredo said in a tweet.
“Itaguyod ang ligtas, marangal, at regular na trabaho para sa manggagawang Pilipino (Let us promote safe, noble, and regular jobs for Filipino workers),” she added.
“Endo” or end of contract scheme is a type of employment to which employees are not granted a regular status in a company as their contracts will be renewed every six months.
In his Labor Day message, President Rodrigo Duterte urged Congress to pass legislative measures protecting the workers’ rights.
“I remain optimistic that one year since I issued Executive Order No. 51, implementing existing constitutional and statutory provisions against illegal contracting, my counterparts in Congress will consider passing much needed legislative measures that will fully protect our workers’ rights, especially to security of tenure and self-organization,” he said.
The Security of Tenure bill is still pending in the Senate although the President has certified it as urgent in September 2018.
In his letter to Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Duterte said he certified the measure as urgent “in order to strengthen workers’ security of tenure by prohibiting the prevalent practices of contractualization and labor-only contracting which continue to immerse our workers in a quagmire of poverty and underemployment.”
Senator Joel Villanueva, chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor, earlier expressed optimism that the upper chamber will be able to send the bill to the bicameral conference before the 17th Congress adjourns in June.
“We trust in our colleagues, especially in the leadership of our Senate President, that they will help us pass this measure given the time we have left,” he said.
Villanueva had said more than 1.9 million workers in the private sector are affected by the practice of contractualization. Overall, he added, about three out of 10 employees are not regular, while one out of two non-regular workers are contractual.
Thousands of protesters, mostly workers, took to the streets on Wednesday not only to demand the end to contractualization, but also higher wages and the passage of the Security of Tenure bill, among others.