THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will ask President Duterte to certify once again as urgent the legislation regulating contractual employment.
Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said the measure aims to address the concerns of the labor sector that Duterte has abandoned his campaign promise to end contractualization.
He said they will be submitting a letter with the said request to Duterte.
A certification by the President, he said, will persuade more lawmakers to pass the Security of the Tenure (SOT) bill to regulate
contractualization.
Despite his campaign promise to end contractualization, Duterte will be ending his term with over 9 million workers still under the said controversial work arrangement, according to militant labor groups.
In a statement last Monday, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) expressed its outrage over Duterte’s alleged failure to improve the working conditions of employees, who suffer lower pay and are bereft of benefits enjoyed by their regular counterparts.
Citing 2019 data from thinktank IBON Foundation, KMU Secretary General Jerome Adonis said there are still 8.5 million contractual workers in private enterprises, while the government employs around 800,000 in different flexible work arrangements.
Bello, however, contradicted that number, and counted only about 50,000 to 60,000 more contractual employees nationwide.
“In the middle of the low wages and soaring prices [of basic goods], they have the audacity [to say] that ending contractualization is no
longer their priority,” Adonis said.
The labor leader issued the statement after Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Jacinto Paras earlier said the pending Security of Tenure (SOT) bill is no longer part of the priority legislation of the administration.
Duterte vetoed the SOT bill in 2019 because of the unresolved “conflict between the labor and the management” in its provisions.
KMU and other labor groups called for the resignation of Duterte over his failure to realize this campaign promise to end contractualization.