‘Stopping contractualization to displace 1 M workers’

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Association of Local Service Contractors (PALSCON) yesterday warned that at least a million workers could lose their jobs if the proposed ban on contractualization would be enforced.

“The government cannot just remove the industry of sub-contracting and outsourcing because it is the current trend of employment and we provide workers to the biggest corporations in the country,” PALSCON officials said.

PALSCON said the government should enforce Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Department Order No. 18 instead of approving proposed measures against contractualization.

Under the regulation, only local service companies with sufficient capitalization of P3 million are allowed to secure license and operate. Local service firms without license or permit from DOLE are considered “fly-by-nights service contractors,” PALSCON said.

Fly-by-nights service contractors, PALSCON added, do not remit government mandated dues such as Philhealth, Pag-ibig and SSS contributions.

Labor groups have been opposing contractualization because they see that the scheme deprives workers of regular and permanent employment status.

Seafarers’ bill of rights

Many Filipino seafarers are also employed on a contractual basis, and about 30 percent of the 1.2 million seafarers in the global shipping fleet today are Filipinos.

Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, yesterday reminded Filipino seafarers of their rights and privileges enshrined in the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC), which will take effect this year.

Legarda said the MLC is the seafarers’ bill of rights. It covers basic rights such as freedom of association, effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor, effective abolition of child labor, and elimination of discrimination with respect to employment and occupation.– With Christina Mendez