MSMEs expansion a poverty trap without the anti-endo law —TUCP

The expansion of micro, small, medium enterprises (MSMEs) may turn out to be poverty trap for workers if the “anti-endo” bill is not signed into law, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said on Thursday, July 25, 2019. Joviland Rita, GMA News

The expansion of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) may turn out to be a poverty trap for workers if the “anti-endo” bill is not signed into law, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said on Thursday.

MSMEs are expected to experience business expansion through the Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities (TRABAHO) law, President Rodrigo Duterte said in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, July 22.

The tax reform package will energize and encourage MSMEs to expand their business, generating 1.4 million jobs, according to the President.

However, TUCP vice president Luis Manuel Corral said the business expansion of MSMEs will be a poverty trap if Duterte does not approved the Security of Tenure (SOT) Bill or the anti-endo bill.

The proposed measure is lapsing into law by the end of this week.

“‘Yung sinasabi nilang pagpapalaganap ng trabaho, ‘yung nabanggit sa SONA na MSMEs na magkakaroon daw ng a million jobs, sinasabi po namin sa Pangulo ngayon, ‘yun po ay magiging endo jobs,” Corral said in a press conference on Thursday.

“Kung itong SOT bill ay hindi magiging ganap na batas ‘yan … magiging poverty trap,” he added.

The goal of ending contractualization is rooted in the issue of poverty. As long as workers are deprived of the benefits of job regularization, the poverty cycle will continue, Corral noted.

Derived from the phrase ‘end of contract’, endo is the practice among employers of hiring workers under fixed term contracts without the intention of giving them the benefit of regularization.

“Kung hindi ho nagiging regular ang ating mangagawa, patuloy ho ang poverty,” Corral said.

That is why labor groups got worried when Duterte did not mention the SOT bill during his SONA, TUCP president Raymond Mendoza said.

“Kinakabahan kami,” Mendoza said in the same press conference.

At this point though, they are still holding on to the belief that Duterte will keep his “election campaign promise”—even if the despite measure is just a couple of days from lapsing into law. —VDS, GMA News