The labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines has slammed the Labor Department’s proposed new Department Order-30 which was intended to eliminate the “endo” or end of contract and contractualization scheme of unscrupulous employers.
TUCP vice president Luis Corral scored DO-30 as a tactic to deceive workers into thinking that the illegal work arrangements have been abolished, when these were merely renamed as “seasonal and project” workers.
“The proposed DO 30 will not end endo but will still perpetuate the evil practice that President Rodrigo Duterte wanted to stop,” Corral said.
“Under the new department order, all the necessary or directly related jobs or functions in a company’s business cannot be contracted-out. However, the DO also allows seasonal and project employees to continue to be non-regular workers,” he added.
Instead of prohibiting contractualization, the Labor department has encouraged seasonal and project-based employees.
“Instead of regular workers who become trained and who acquire expertise, who develop corporate loyalty and have institutional memory, our workforce will be populated by short-termers who can barely meet the barest needs of their dependents, let alone themselves,” Corral said.
Associated Labor Unions-TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay urged Duterte not to approve the proposed DO 30.
“There will be no repeat employers for these workers. Instead, employees who will be forever seasonal or project status will be drifting from job to job and that is if they are lucky,” Tanjusay said.