MANILA, Oct. 28 – ”Endo’ is a thing of the past,” Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III declared recently.
“This is illegal, this is contrary to law. It’s not only the labor group, but also the management group who have agreed that “endo” will be a thing of the past… the employers and managers are willing to comply with the provisions of the law…,” Bello said.
He said that to ensure that the endo practice is stopped, employers will be compelled to strictly comply with existing laws, citing employment laws and the regulations governing contractual employment.
Endo is a scheme that circumvents the law by hiring workers for less than six months to avoid having to regularize them.
“We are on track with our commitment to the President to reduce ‘endo’ by the end of the year, and its abolition by 2017,” said Bello.
The labor chief announced earlier that 16,183 workers were voluntarily regularized by their employers as the DOLE stepped up efforts to eliminate illegal contractualization practices.
He said the number represents about 15 percent of the total number of workers who are in illegitimate contracting arrangement. Most of these workers are in manufacturing, malls, food chains, and hotel and restaurant industries.
Citing a report from Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC), Bello said that the DOLE has adopted two tracks in eliminating illegitimate contractualization, including labor-only contracting and ‘endo’.
In the first track, the DOLE Regional Offices conducted series of consultations and meetings to encourage employers to voluntarily regularize workers who are under ‘endo’ and labor-only contracting arrangements. About 170 consultations and meetings were held attended by 11,591 representatives from 8,403 establishments/ principals/contractors.
For the second track, Labor Laws Compliance Officers (LLCOs) inspected establishments, principals, and contractors which are practicing ‘endo’ and labor-only contracting arrangements. Those found to be engaged in labor-only contracting are subjected to mandatory conferences to assist them in their compliance with labor standards.
It covered 8,754 establishments/principals/contractors and found 209 violations affecting 12,129 workers and 1,546 engaged in labor-only contracting with 34,627 affected workers.
“It is very clear that there are establishments which are violating the law. If the law will be implemented and there will be strict compliance, I don’t see any reason the objective of ending “endo” practice by 2017 will not be achieved,” said Bello. (DOLE)
