The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) on Monday said the group is not giving up its call to President Duterte to end the contractualization of workers.
FFW President lawyer Jose Sonny G. Matula told the BusinessMirror that his group remains “hopeful that the President still [has] the political will to make good [of] his electoral campaign promise in 2016” to end the practice of contractualization, where workers are hired to work in less than six months.
Under the Labor Code, a worker who works for six months or beyond will automatically become a regular employee.
Thus, the worker should receive the minimum wage approved and passed by the Regional Wage and Productivity Boards every month, and is entitled to social benefits given by the State.
Matula said Duterte should approve the proposed executive order (EO) crafted by the Nagkaisa labor coalition because it does not completely ban all forms of contractual jobs.
The proposal was “not absolute” in its purpose of ending contratualization, he added.
The FFW, with 250 unions under its wings, is a member of Nagkaisa.
Matula stated that the main point of the Nagkaisa is “the security of tenure of the workers” who have been working for so long in their respective firms and, yet remain contractuals until today.”
His statement is so far the clearest among the statements and reactions issued by different labor groups after Duterte admitted more than a week ago that he finds difficulty in approving the Nagkaisa-proposed EO because he was informed by his lawyers that the proposal will literally end all types of contractualization that will severely effect many business establishments.