ILOILO City – A total of 4,612 workers in Western Visayas have been regularized in the first quarter of 2018 as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) stepped up its campaign against contractualization.
In Antique alone, about 3,126 workers in a mining company based in Semirara Island were regularized.
The remaining regularized employees were working in hotels, resorts, restaurants, establishments engaged in wholesale, and retail business in Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Capiz, according to DOLE.
The agency has been conducting consultations, orientations and seminars on matters involving contractualization.
These moves are aimed at educating employers and getting their support to eliminate labor-only contracting and other prohibited work practices.
DOLE regional director Johnson Cañete stressed that their strengthened campaign for employer awareness and voluntary regularization is slowly paying off as shown in the number of regularized workers for the first quarter of the year.
Cañete added that they are positive to deliver DOLE’s commitment of regularizing 15,000 workers by the end of 2018.
He also said the target can be achieved through the active involvement of business establishments in the region and sustained inspection of establishments, principals and contractors that are practicing “endo” and labor-only contracting arrangements. (With DOLE Region 6/PN)
