Workers slam Bello for ‘ECOP deal,’ urge Senate to act on endo bill

Party-list group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III for allegedly striking a "deal" with employers that would promote contractualization instead of eradicate it.

"Rather than ensuring workers become regular, Bello is instead making regular meetings with the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) on their demand that regularization commence only after three years of employment and that labor inspections be suspended,” PM chairman Renato Magtubo said in a statement.

Sought for comment, the Labor secretary denied the accusations, maintaining he is one with legislators who are pushing for the Security of Tenure bill's passage.

"Not true," Bello said in a text message.

"In fact, I am (with Representative Raymond Mendoza) of TUCP (Trade Union Congress of the Philippines party-list), (Nagkaisa! chairperson Sonny Matula and) some members of Nagkaisa! at (the) Senate following approval of (the) SOT bill," he added.

Abolishing "endo," or the practice of hiring workers under an employment contract that falls short of the mandated six months to qualify for regularization, has been a campaign promise of President Rodrigo Duterte when he ran for office in 2016. 

Magtubo stressed that the supposed regularization agreement between DOLE and ECOP "does not tackle the root cause of endo."

"We reiterate that the SOT (Security of Tenure) bill represents the best and only opportunity to decisively end the practice of endo. Without a strong law to protect the interests of workers, millions will remain vulnerable to precarious working conditions and abusive labor practices," he said.

On Friday morning, members of the group trooped to the Senate to voice their last-minute appeal for lawmakers to pass the SOT bill.

With the senatorial campaign starting in a few days, the workers declared that they will be judging who "friends" and "enemies" are by their action on the Senate Bill 1826, which seeks to provide workers security of tenure and put an end to the practice of labor-only contracting.

"We remind the members of the Senate of their promise to the workers to do their part in the fight to end the injustice of contractualization by passing the SOT bill,"  Magtubo said.

"We remind the senators of their professed commitment to the working class as well as for the general public and will hold them accountable to their promise to provide the legal framework to help end the practice of endo," he added.

The labor leader said that failure of the lawmakers to pass a pro-workers measure would be a "betrayal of the workers that so far have been engaging the legislative branch of government and has campaigned for the end of endo even before 2016 where it was first identified as one of the key priorities of the incumbent administration." —LDF, GMA News