The country’s largest labor group on Tuesday warned more Filipino workers may just opt to leave for overseas jobs with the proposed extension of “probationary period” from six months to two years.
In a news statement, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) President Raymond Mendoza said this will be the outcome with the passage of Probinsyano Ako Party-list Rep. Jose “Bonito” Singson Jr.’s House Bill 4802.
“Under the kind of current working conditions that we have, 6,000 to 7,000 Filipinos are leaving every day to work abroad,” Mendoza said.
“If we allow this proposal become a law, the number of Filipinos wanting to work abroad will rise, resulting to greater ‘brain drain’ with more children and families to suffer,” he added.
TUCP reiterated its opposition against the bill, which it said, is contrary to the intent of President Duterte goal to eliminate widespread contractualization where workers tend to suffer short-term employment with minimal work benefits.
Mendoza said HB 4802 is practically the antithesis of Duterte’s pronouncement since it “empowers abusive employment and business practice with a larger latitude and longer contractualization short-term work scheme.”
No less than the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), some lawmakers and even Malacañang already expressed its opposition against the bill.
Labor coalition Paggawa echoed TUCP’s push against contractualization and HB 4802.
It is now demanding for the passage of the security of tenure (SOT) bill, which will protect workers against such “anti-worker policies” with the prohibition of all forms of contractualization.
“[Labor] Secretary [Silvestre H.] Bello cannot fulfill his mandate of fostering industrial peace if he heeds President Duterte’s marching order to give employers the unrestricted power to determine which activities can be contracted out,” the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino said in a separate statement.
To recall, Duterte ordered DOLE to craft a new version of the SOT bill after he vetoed its 17th Congress-version, for supposedly being too disadvantageous to employers.