THE labor group Nagkaisa on Thursday urged Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to comply with President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to stop contractualization soonest.
Various labor leaders held a three-hour long dialogue with President Duterte last Feb. 27 in Malacañang, where the President demonstrated understanding for the plight of Filipino workers and vowed to end contractualization both in the private and public sector.
“As the alter ego of the President, Secretary Bello is hard pressed to comply with the order and to abide with the demand of workers without further delay,” Nagkaisa spokesman Rene Magtubo said.
Through a symbolic pressing of time button, the group declared a 30-day countdown for DoLE to come up with new rules prohibiting contractualization.
The labor group rejected the Department Order 168 which reflects the DTI and employers formula of legitimizing manpower agencies and regulating their practices.
“In the light of the President’s latest instructions, Sec. Bello should junk this draft and instead adopt Nagkaisa’s proposed DO, which seeks prohibition of contractualization, as the new working draft,” added Magtubo.
On orders of the President, Bello is to convene the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council to discuss the new draft order.
The TIPC, composed of workers, employers and government representatives, serves as the clearing house of all labor polices, with the power to endorse proposed issuances to the DoLE Secretary.
“Should there be another deadlock at this level, we expect the Secretary to decide along the line of prohibition agreed upon at the Palace,” Magtubo said.
The coalition is hopeful that HB 4444, authored by Rep, Raymond Mendoza of the TUCP Partylist, which seeks total prohibition and criminalization of contractualization offenses, will gain ground in Congress once certified by the President.
Once contractualization is finally prohibited, the rights of workers to security of tenure, to unionize and bargain collectively will be restored.