More than 500 representatives from labor groups and employers in Mindanao gathered at last week’s Labor Summit in Davao City to discuss ways to end contractualization of labor.
These include the abolition of agencies in order to have a direct employee-employer relationship, equal salary scales of workers in the provinces and the National Capital Region (NCR), and strengthening of employees’ unions.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will collate all inputs from different sectors in making a policy about “endo.”
“The employers are open, in a way, cooperative. Not less than 25,000 regulars so we have a substantial increase. Our target is to have 40,000 to 50,000 regulars this year. Our target is to reduce the ‘endo’ by 50 percent and in 2017, there will be no more endo,” Bello said.
Meanwhile, laid-off contractual workers held a protest at the Labor Summit and demanded regularization.
One of the protesters was 38-year-old Sammy Manuel, a contractual worker for 13 years who was recently sacked from work.
“Lisod kaayo pag contractual oi dili pirmanente ang trabaho, unta maregular mi,” he said.
(“It’s difficult to be a contractual worker, work is not permanent. I hope we can be regularized.”)
Carlo Olalo, secretary-general of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in Southern Mindanao, said the “win-win” solution offered by Bello does not indicate the department’s commitment to ending contractualization but only to taming the practice.
Recommendations made in the summit include the passage of a PHP750 national minimum wage for workers in the private sector, and
a PHP16,000 monthly minimum wage for the government employees.
Another labor summit is scheduled in Cebu on Fri, Nov 18. —Vina Araneta-Pilapil, ABS-CBN News
This story first appeared on ABS-CBN News Online and is republished with permission.
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