Member of Opposition
The Government side believe that it is morally and ethically upright. But we, the
opposition side, strongly believe that contractualization deprived contractual workers of
the rights and benefits granted by labor law to permanent employees. Unlike the regular
employees, contractual workers do not have paid leaves and holidays as they are on a
“no-work, no pay” basis. Also, as mentioned by the Deputy Leader of opposition, in
particular, women find themselves more because they are not granted paid leaves
either for childbirth/-care, elderly care, or other domestic responsibilities. The situation is
aggravated because contractual workers are subject to sanctions for tardiness and
absences. Because the policies are not fair when it comes to benefits for permanent
employees and service contractors, even if contractuals work harder than some
permanent employees, all the privileges and benefits are only for the latter. Those who
work hard should also be appropriately compensated, just like regular employees. The
permanent employees get all the bonuses and allowances while the contractuals who
have helped them attain their performance ratings get nothing.
Contractualization can lead to job insecurity as the primary stressor in temporary
employment arrangements in his general framework for studying work and mental
health. Guest and Conway (2000) added that temporary contracts are linked to lack of
work-life balance, job dissatisfaction and more likely not to stay long in the company.
Furthermore, Quinlan et al. (2000) argued that job dissatisfaction results from lack of
training, supervision, and limited access to information associated with temporary
contracts instead of solely to the work relationship's limited duration.
Many companies in the country have resorted to hiring employees on a contractual
basis, even if the task requires them to do the regular type of work done in a company,
thereby depriving the employees of “security of tenure” and undermines their
opportunity for long-term employment. In addition, companies resort to labor contracting
and/or contractualization of workers to avoid regularizing these workers and reduce
employment costs by not having to pay the benefits due regular employees. Labor
Secretary Silvestre Bello III said, “a total of 3,377 companies were found to be involved
in labor-only contracting practices. Of the figure, the Department of Labor and
Employment (DOLE) said 767 companies are engaged in labor-only contracting, while
2,610 companies are suspected. From June 2016 to April 2018, DOLE was able to
inspect only 99,526 companies out of the 900,000 establishments nationwide due to
manpower constraints. DOLE said that 224,852 workers are yet to be regularized under
the establishments said to be involved in illegal contracting.” Jollibee Food Corporation
topped the list, with at least 14,690 workers yet to regularized. Jollibee is followed by
pineapple grower Dole Philippines Inc with at least 10,521 workers yet to be in
permanent positions, and PLDT with at least 8,310.
Furthermore, Contractual work has been one of the most problematic schemes
concerning labor relations in the Philippines since the worker is deprived of certain
rights and security of tenure (Macaraya, 1997).
In some cases of companies such as Philippine Long Distance Telecommunication
Company (PLDT), Coca-Cola Bottlers, Purefoods Corporation, and Philippine Airlines,
which illustrates the employee-employer relationship that abuses its labor
contractualization are still questionable for their practices about the security of tenure
and other benefits that should be given to the employee. Without clearly identifying the
rights of the employees against contractualization practices, it would have led to the
violation of their rights to organize and bargain collectively, right to have social security,
health care, and housing benefits, and right to security of tenure. (Mendoza, 2016)
With that, According to Herrera, the government must take care of its workers to ensure
that their economic needs are covered. “Granting regular status will serve as an
incentive towards more productive work, investing in one’s job, and taking on a longer-
term view at one’s career advancement,” she said.
“Considering the services they extend in all government offices vis-å-vis the insufficient
benefits and privileges accorded the casual and contractual employees, the government
should grant these dedicated employees who have rendered efficient service in the
bureaucracy an opportunity to obtain their civil service eligibility,” she added.
The government had been urged to regularize workers before. In July, Alliance of
Concerned Teachers Rep. France Castro called for regularizing casual and contractual
employees, claiming that 500,000 government workers have non-regular status.
In conclusion, when a business becomes successful and incredibly profitable, the
company should ethically and morally also give back to the employees by giving them
the security of tenure and increasing their compensation and benefits because they are
the ones who accelerate the business. If their pay affects their dependability, somehow,
it will also impact their efficiency. This translates that their security and compensation
are directly related to the company's success. Their satisfactory compensation supports
their own life and influences their decisions. This is also what Stakeholder theory
assumes that the success of a business can be measured in the value they give to the
majority of their stakeholders, where employees are considered the most significant
non-shareholding corporate stakeholding group. (Lynch-Fannon, 2004)
Agency employment relationships allow employers to avoid providing benefits as the
permanent employers are enjoying. Moreover, the use of temporary and subcontracted
labor commonly leads to the abusive use of such contracts that leave workers
defenseless to unjustified employment termination, low job security, low wages, and
little to no access to social security benefits. Workers' access to trade union rights is
limited because they are hired temporarily or subcontracted. They have legal
restrictions to join the trade union and to be a part of a bargaining agreement.
Contractual workers should be treated equally with respect, the use of temporary
contracts should not compromise their wages, working conditions, social and labor
protection, and rights in joining the collective agreement same as other organization
workers. Ethically, this is why permanent employment and direct hiring are much
preferred and advantageous to contractual worker.
