|
By Max de Leon and Jonathan Vicente, Researchers
Workers and capitalists agree that the Labor
Code of the Philippines–the document that spells out the
rights of workers–has to be amended. But they want it changed for
different reasons.
The big issue revolves around “contractualization.”
Workers say the Labor Code is “procapitalist” because it is
loose enough to allow firms to hire contractual or casual workers
without the benefits that are due them.
Nanette Miranda-Tampico, spokeswoman for
Koalisyon Laban sa Kontraktuwalisasyon, said “the Labor Code
should scrap the provisions on probationary, apprenticeship and
learners, which for years have camouflaged the widespread practice
of labor contracting.”
Tampico said the amendments would give workers
job security and stop the growing number of contractuals in
factories, industries and other establishments.
Employers, on the other hand, contend that the
Labor Code is “too pro-labor.” Donald Dee, president of the
Employers Confederation of the Philippines, said the law “heavily
safeguards job security, making it very difficult for employers to
discipline workers or remove them for inefficiency or cause.”
“It does not encourage workers to become
efficient or productive,” Dee told Manila Times. “It is true
that contractual labor is now really extensive. Easily seven in
every 10 companies practice contractualization. This happens because
our Labor Code is obsolete.”
“There is an urgent need to amend it because
the business environment is now different,” he said.
SM workers’ view
For Maristel Garcia, secretary general of the
Sandigan ng Manggagawa sa Shoemart, the case of SM clearly shows
that contractualization is like a “cancer” that gnaws at the
membership of organized workers.
“Imagine, the original membership of the SM
union was 3,000 in 1990. Now we have only 1,500 because those who
retired or resigned from our ranks were replaced by part-time
employees,” Garcia told The Manila Times during a rally of
laborers at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Currently, the 15 SM department store branches
in Metro Manila have around 11,000 contractual workers. The total
volume represents the number of hire-and-fire workers classified as
contractual.
“This is the fixed number of contractuals at
SM. If someone is fired or someone’s contract has been terminated,
the SM management will hire another contractual as replacement. This
is ensures that the number of contractual workers will be retained.
We predict that the number will continue to increase in the next few
years, as the population of regular workers decreases,” Garcia
said.
The number of SM contractual workers are biggest
in SM Centerpoint, SM City and Megamall.
Garcia said a contractual employee is usually
hired for three to five months, after which SM supervisors will
decide whether the contract would be extended or not.
In 1990, the SM department stores in Metro
Manila had at least 3,000 regular rank-and-file workers. They are
all members of the SMS as DOLE allowed automatic membership of
regular employees to the union.
SM has a regular workforce of 4,000 people,
including those holding managerial and supervisory positions.
DOLE officials said SM started hiring more
contractual workers when regular employees who resigned or retired
were replaced by casuals.
Garcia said SM has since curtailed the
regularization of workers after management learned that it can save
money by hiring contractuals rather than maintaining regulars.
A contractual laborer at SM earns around P250
minimum wage a day plus P30 cost of living allowance. A regular
worker gets an average of P360, with no difference from actual
workload.
Today, SM workers are demanding a P40 raise. SM
only gave them a P14 increase this year. The SM union said it is not
even enough to buy a decent meal.
She said the benefits for a contractual worker
are minimal. The no-work-no-pay policy is observed whether a whether
is sick or taking a short vacation.
“But regular workers do get paid whenever they
request and were allowed to have a leave of absence,” Garcia said
in Pilipino.
Capitalist’s view
“We know for a fact that contractualization is
meant to avoid regularization,” said Dee. “But we cannot stop it
because it would create an even bigger pressure on unemployment and
the few manufacturing companies left in the country would leave or
close down, or rather than be manufacturers, they will just become
traders.”
Vice President Teofisto Guingona shared the view
that the exercise of temporary employment is widespread and that
this is because of the huge unemployment and underemployment rate.
January 2003 figures, Guingona said, showed that
there are around 8.4 million Filipinos looking for work, 3.6 million
of them unemployed and the rest underemployed.
“The temptation to exploit our labor force
seems to be strong. Who would care about giving higher wages, giving
more benefits, treating workers with more respect when we can easily
replace resigned workers,” Guingona said.
Dee said the problem must be tackled head-on by
“really looking at the Labor Code and amending it.” He said that
instead of focusing on “job security”, the labor law’s
emphasis must be on “work security”.
Dee said it is all right for companies to
regularize workers but they should not be given a hard time in
cutting jobs for valid reasons like poor performance or if the
business is not doing well.
“If there is a need to remove workers, the
process must be simple, clear and fast. Right now it is not like
that. We should be given the opportunity to terminate workers after
due process,” Dee said.
With less pressure on companies to maintain
desired labor costs, firms won’t have to shut down or leave. He
said there are really times when companies need to terminate workers
because the income coming in only allows them to pay only so many
employees.
Right now, Dee said, the prevalent practice of
contractualization makes both workers and employers losers.
The workers, he said, are being exploited and
replaced every five months and the productivity of the company also
suffers as the new hires take time before they become adept to the
job.
Actually, Dee said the law only allows
contractual labor in seasonal jobs.
“Like courier firms, for example, take in
additional employees during the Christmas season. But in the case of
sales clerks, are they seasonal? No, they are not. Now, the
violation would be more blatant if you rehire them or extend their
contract beyond six months,” Dee said.
But again, the law cannot be totally enforced
since the unemployment problem would get even worse. “Walang
magawa ang tao kasi magsasara ‘yan at lalong magugutom ang tao
(the government cannot anything because the company would just close
down and the people would go hungry even more,” Dee said.
Aside from amending the Labor Code, Dee said the
government should also stop polticizing wage increases and look at
how the cost of living will be lowered.
He said the wages in the Philippines are higher
than those in Indonesia, Thailand and China, but the quality of life
of their workers are better than those in the country.
“Right now the cost of living in the country
is very high. Of the worker’s salary, 60 percent will go to food,
20 percent to transportation and the remaining 20 percent to rent
and payment of bills. So where would you get the budget for the
education of your kids?” Dee said.
He pointed out that the government should start
downsizing the bureaucracy to channel needed funds to developmental
and infrastructure projects. This is necessary, according to him, to
generate more jobs in the countryside.
He said for the agricultural sector and the
small and medium enterprises in the provinces to grow,
farm-to-market roads must be given priority.
Hidden Agenda
Dee said people should start supporting the
government in its projects and stop politicking and resorting to
divisive gimmicks. Like in the case of most labor organizations, Dee
said the workers are only being fooled into believing that what they
are fighting for is really their rights.
“These labor groups will tell the workers
“hey, we will fight to raise your salary from minimum to P300. But
in the end, the company will just close. Their agenda is really to
bring down the company to cause economic dislocation,” he said.
He said this is one reason the membership of
organized labor has been dropping in the last 10 years.
At this time, Dee said they are hesitant to
really push the amendment of the Labor Code as it might just be used
again by some personalities for political leverage.
“We are afraid that it might be used as a
political issue again especially now that the elections are near. We
do not see any assurance that our efforts would not be used for
politics again,” Dee said.
|
