LABOR organizations slammed Malacañang’s turnaround on ending labor contractualization, saying it smashes the tiniest hope for decent work that workers were desperately holding on to when the President assumed office.
President Duterte promised to issue an Executive Order (EO) to end “endo” (end contract or labor contractualization) and goaded various labor groups to hang on to the promise thus, tempering workers restlessness, albeit temporarily.
For many years, workers are protesting over labor contractualization as it severely undermines workers’ income, benefits, safety and health at work, the right to unionize or organize, and protection. This practice leaves the workers in a continuous state of precariousness that pushes them to poverty even if they are so-called “employed”, or forced to migrate to seek better paying jobs elsewhere.
Last week, however, the Palace announced that the President won’t be coming out with an EO to end labor contractualization and would instead leave it to Congress to craft a law on the matter.
Labor rights organization Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) described this move as a “hand-washing” – evoking the time Pontius Pilate washed his hands after handing Jesus to a lynching mob.
Passing the burden to a business- and land-lord dominated Congress to come up with a law in favor of workers’ rights is like throwing a person in a shark-infested sea. Congress recently passed House Bill 6908 that, in the view of the labor sector, strengthens job contracting and other forms of contractualization, instead of promoting job security. It is this same Congress that passed the TRAIN law which is now hitting the bellies and purses especially of the poor.
Labor secretary Silvestre Bello’s statement to watch out for the President’s May 1 (Labor Day) statement that something dramatic may come out, only lead the labor sector to ask: “Are we reading or listening to real news or fake news?”
