By Azer N. Parrocha
Job applicants wait in line outside a shopping mall in Manila, Tuesday. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) warned companies of possible closure or cancellation of their license to operate if they fail to address labor contractualization or end-of-contract policies in their work force..(MNS photo)
MANILA (PNA) – Senator Joel Villanueva on Wednesday lauded the efforts of the Duterte administration to stop contractualization or ‘endo’ (end-of-contract) and the efforts of private establishments to regularize their contractual workers.
Citing the first 100 days accomplishment report of the administration presented by the Department of Labor and Employment, Villanueva said some 195 establishments have so far voluntarily regularized 10,532 workers.
These establishments include SM Malls and 7/11 convenience stores which regularized 4,800 and 800 employees, respectively.
He meanwhile urged other private companies to follow suit and put safeguards against the blurring of employer-employee relationship and the circumvention of the law on security of tenure.
The neophyte senator authored Senate Bill No. 1116 which seeks to ensure security of tenure, protect workers’ welfare by ensuring regularity of salary and benefits, and protect their right to organize.
He also stressed that a law is urgently needed to protect and regularize workers and ensure their entitlement to social benefits and protection.
Villanueva, who chairs the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development, is set to hold the next hearing on ‘endo’ on October 13.