DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Another anti-endo bill was filed by Makabayan bloc in congress despite the recent move of President Rodrigo Duterte’s veto of anti-endo bill last July 26, 2019.
The Makabayan bloc has filed House Bill No. 3381 or an Act strengthening the workers’ right to security of tenure, amending for the purpose of Presidential Decree No.442, otherwise known as the Labor Code of the Philippines.
Under the proposed House Bill 3381 also known as the Security of Tenure Bill that pushes the prohibition of contractualization of labor or “endo”, it would be illegal for principal employer to enter a job contracting through contractor or manpower agency to perform a specific job for the principal employer.
Makabayan’s version of Security of Tenure bill also states that there should be heavier penalty imposed for violating employers while all workers “shall be entitled to security of tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living wage”.
President Duterte vetoed both Senate Bill 1826 and House Bill 6908 while saying in his veto message that he has a “firm commitment to protect the workers’ right to security of tenure”. He also said that “legitimate job contracting should be allowed”, and that businesses “allowed to determine whether they should outsource certain activities or not”… “Regardless of whether this is directly related to their business”.
Think tank Ibon Foundation records some 8.5 million non-regular employers working in private companies and more than 800,000 non-regular workers in government agencies.
“Construction, real estate, and manufacturing have the most non-regular workers, where 7 out of 10 workers, 5 out of 10 workers, and 4 out of 10 workers, respectively, are non-regular or agency-hired.”
Labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) also records an overwhelming number of more the 25 million contractual workers or 60 percent of the total employed in the country.
Meanwhile, the Ateneo de Davao University Research Council pointed out that despite the 81.4 percent availability in jobs for the following year, 31.4 percent of Davaoeňos said it’s difficult to find a job in the city.
KMU-Southern Mindanao Region has already manifested their support for the anti-endo bill saying that this will empower workers in their workplaces as many among Filipino workers have been employed through third-party providers, contractors and sub-contractors who do not have the capacity to negotiate with the company.
In his statement, Carlo Olalo, KMU-SMR secretary general said third party providers, contractors and sub-contractors depend on the income they received based on the percentage of the worker’s wages given by the principal employer. “Unlike if we have the Security of Tenure; workers will have a negotiating power to assert their right,” he added.
Last July 29, a separate anti-endo bill (Senate Bill Number 806) was also refiled in the senate by Senator Joel Villanueva which was exactly the same version of the measure that the President vetoed. (davaotoday.com)
