METRO MANILA --- Private companies may try
to circumvent current laws on contractualization, but the Employers
Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) promises to hold their members
accountable.
ECOP president Donald Dee condemned last May 2 the end of
contractualization or 'endo' scheme, particularly '555,' a practice where
workers are released on their fifth month of service to prevent them from being
entitled to regular benefits.
He said ECOP would run after its members who subscribed to this
scheme.
"This I promise the President, and I tell you Congressman,
if any of our members are violating the law, we will be the one to (hold them
accountable)," Dee told CNN Philippines' The Source.
"Those people, we want them to be flushed out... You tell
me the company, I can work," he added.
When asked about what specific sanctions ECOP would enforce, Dee
said the confederation would hold the members liable to the law.
The ECOP is considered the umbrella organization for the
Philippine business community. It gathers smaller organizations across the
private sector, including the Chinese Filipino Business Club, Hotel and
Restaurant Association of the Philippines, and the Philippine Chamber of
Commerce and Industry, among others
Among ECOP's members are corporate giants like Jollibee Foods
Corporation and SM Retail, Inc. The Labor Department ordered Jollibee to
regularize thousands of workers in April.
New EO useless?
President Rodrigo Duterte signed last May 1 the executive order
that regulates unlawful contracting and sub-contracting.
Some labor groups and lawmakers, including Akbayan
Representative Tom Villarin, slammed it as a rehash of already existing laws.
He co-authored House Bill 6908, which aims to amend the Labor Code and
strengthen the security of tenure for workers.
Villarin told The Source that the order was
probably released just to "appease the workers who have been meeting with
him several times."
"I think the EO is useless, and the focus now is on the
Senate to pass its version of the security of tenure bill," he said.
House Bill 6908 was approved by the lower chamber of Congress in
January and it is pending at the Senate.
Dee disagreed with the congressman, saying the EO did have some
bearing.
"We're now working together to kill endo... How can
it be useless when you are doing something, you're going to eradicate [it]. And
we will eradicate [it], I tell you," he said.
However, he also expressed concern over "two or three"
provisions where decisions still reverted to the Labor Secretary.
"I wanted sana it be totally rule-based... para malinaw [so
it's clear]," said Dee. (CNN
Philippines Staff)
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