KMU slams new Labor dep’t order on contractualization

Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno condemned today a new order from the Labor department imposing new regulations on the contractualization of workers, saying the order is simply a fine-tuning of existing regulations on the employment scheme and what is needed is contractualization’s actual junking.

KMU made the statement in reaction to the Department of Labor and Employment’s Order No. 18-A series of 2011, also known as “Rules Implementing Articles 106 to 109 of the Labor Code, as Amended,” which was signed by Sec. Rosalinda Baldoz last week according to the department’s website.

The new DO seeks to differentiate “legitimate” from “non-legitimate” contractors and subcontractors and lays down requirements for legitimate ones.

“The new Labor DO is like laws in American history that merely regulate the owning and selling of Black slaves, not the abolition of slavery. Under contractualization, workers are like slaves and what is needed is the actual junking of this oppressive employment scheme, not its mere regulation,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.

“As long as contractualization is rendered legal by Labor DO’s as authorized by the Labor Code, capitalists are sure to find ways to boost profits by exploiting contractuals. They have managed to go around the many regulations on contractualization. We haven’t seen anybody imprisoned for contractualization,” he said.

“From the perpective of workers, all contractors and subcontractors are illegitimate. They are agents of the extreme exploitation of workers. They should all be outlawed and abolished,” he added.

Among the requirements to be a “legitimate” contractor and subcontractor are: owning a distinct and independent business; readiness to take full responsibility for performing a job, work or service; substantial capital or investment; commitment to comply with labor laws; and registration with DOLE regional offices.

“The DOLE is just trying to prettify its image amidst the deaths of contractuals – ten in Eton Towers and six in Keppel Subic Shipyard this year – where contractors and subcontractors were exposed to be unregistered. With this DO, the DOLE is just laying down an agreement among thiefs, between the government and capitalists, as to how to implement contractualization without the government being put into a bad light,” Labog said.

KMU lambasted Sec. Baldoz’s claim that the new DO will “promote employment and encourage full compliance with minimum wages and general labor standards, including safe and healthful conditions of work, security of tenure, and self-organization and collective bargaining.”

“That is just DOLE’s public relations personnel speaking. It is not as if the country lacks laws on workers’ rights and interests, but even the pro-capitalist laws are not implemented and no one has yet been imprisoned for their violations, especially with regard to contractualization,” Labog said.

“The mere fact that the DOLE speaks about ‘encouraging’ and not punishing capitalists to uphold the most basic rights of workers shows that it is powerless before, and in connivance with, capitalists who are implementing contractualization,” he added.