Labor leaders on Thursday said they will be ready to counter possible attempts from government economic managers and business groups to derail the passage of the Security of Tenure (SOT) bill as it goes through the bicameral conference next week.

In a statement, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Vice President Louie Corral said it is wary of a possible intervention from the Department of Finance (DOF) to derail the SOT.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III had already rejected the House version of the bill before it was passed on third and final reading with an overwhelming vote of support from congressmen in 2017, Corral recalled.

“We still fear that DOF Secretary Dominguez will move to kill the worker’s bill as it goes to the Bicameral Conference Committee next week,” Corral said.

He said similar opposition may also be raised by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) and the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce.

Corral said they are now preparing to quash such attempts with sound data and mass mobilization during the bicameral conference.

“Our research team will be doing quick-response table studies and position papers to counter the false and misleading legal and economic arguments being advanced by DOF,

Ecop and the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce,” Corral said.

He said other members of labor coalition Nagkaisa will also continue their lobby during the last phase of the passage of the SOT bill.

This was confirmed by Nagkaisa Spokesman and Partido Manggagawa Chairman Renato Magtubo.

“We will fight it out in the bicam,” Magtubo told the BusinessMirror in an SMS.

No compromise

TUCP said they are perplexed by the opposition of business groups on the SOT bill since it will not outlaw the contractual scheme, but only restrict its practice.

This, TUCP Spokesman Alan Tanjusay said, was already a big compromise for labor leaders, who were initially demanding for the outright abolition of contractualization.

“We have already taken a crucial step backward from [an] absolute, total ban of ‘Endo’ position to permissive and allowable job contracting because we recognize employers and business flexibility,” Tanjusay told the BusinessMirror in an SMS.

“We cannot and we will not take more step backward. We will stand our ground. No more compromise,” he added.

The SOT bill has been dubbed “End of Endo” bill because it was seen as a way of curbing the widespread practice of hiring workers under short-term contracts (hence, Endo for “end of contract”) which expire before they qualify for permanent employment under existing law.

Labor groups are optimistic the SOT bill, which was certified as urgent by President Duterte, will be finally enacted into law after the Senate passed its own version of the legislation on Wednesday.

This has been the farthest the bill has been in being made into a law since it was first proposed two decades ago.

“This is a major victory for workers today…We should maintain the momentum and work double time so that the Bicameral Conference Committee could submit a version of the bill that could be ratified at once by both chambers of Congress,” Nagkaisa Chairman and Federation of Free Workers President Sonny Matula said in a statement.

Based on the estimates of labor groups, around 15 million workers in contractual work arrangements will benefit from the passage of the SOT bill.

Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/05/24/showdown-seen-over-end-of-endo-at-bicam/