Right to organize, best for contractuals

By ALDWIN QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — The militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) advised the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) that unionization and regularization will serve best the contractual workers.

KMU said this after reports about DOLE saying it will “protect” contractual workers and will “pursue all-out-effort” to battle forms of contractualization through its Labor Enforcement and Action Program (LEAP). DOLE announced in its website that its “regional offices will look into the worst cases of contractualization. DOLE said it will look especially at the agriculture industry by inspecting the workplaces.

LEAP consists of two phases. The first phase covers the period starting August 2 and ending November 30, 2010 and the second phase covers the period February to November 2011. For the first phase, targets for inspection are security agencies, manpower agencies, sub-contractors, cooperatives, manufacturing establishments, and restaurant and fast-food enterprises.

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz in her speech during the 3rd National Multi-Sectoral Policy Conference on Human Development claimed DOLE is now also undertaking effort to ensure the transparency of the standards enforcement thrust by posting all labor cases at its website.

KMU Chairperson Elmer Labog said inspecting workplaces for violations of labor standards is still a far cry from actually protecting contractual workers. He added that the best way of protecting them is ending their contractual status, regularizing them and letting them join or form unions. Labog said it is sad that DOLE as a government institution has always stood in the way of giving genuine protection to the contractual workers.

Labog said that the DOLE and the government in the first place have promoted contractualization to further increase the profits of big local and foreign capitalists. He said contractualization means the reduction of wages, lack of job security and attacks on workers’ rights. He stressed that contractualization weakened unions because contractual workers can easily and “legally” be fired from work for joining union activities.

DOLE was criticized by KMU for confining itself to the worst forms of employment and the agency’s rhetoric of protecting contractuals. According to KMU, these are ways of legitimizing an “illegitimate” form of employment.

“Contractual work by itself is one of the worst forms of employment in the country. Why focus then on its worst forms? The DOLE isn’t saying much and won’t be doing much in focusing on its worst forms. Contractualization as a form of employment should be stopped,” said Labog. He said giving protection to contractual workers is legitimizing the illegitimate.

“Contractualization is essentially an attack on the right of workers and the people to a living wage, to job security and to exercise trade-union rights. Any form of protection in that kind of employment status won’t be enough. Only unionization and regularization will protect contractuals,” Labog ended. # nordis.net