DOLE orders 'endo' stopped

Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III on Thursday formally ordered an immediate prohibition on 'endo' in the country, the practice of indefinite contractualization by employers.

Issuing Department Order 174, Series of 2017, Bello ordered a prohibition on repeated hiring of employees by contractors under an employment contract of short duration that falls short of the mandated six months to qualify for regularization.

"Ito 'yung endo – hire ka for five months. After another five months, hire ka ulit through a contractor," the Cabinet official said in a briefing in Manila City.

"We have a commitment from management na wala na ito. Pero, alam mo, we still have to be very careful, kasi ang dami pa rin naming nalalaman na endo," he added.

Signed on Thursday, Department Order 174 prohibits the following labor practices:

• Labor-only contracting

• Principal farming out work to a "Cabo"

• Contracting out jobs or work through in-house agency

• Contracting out jobs or work through in-house cooperative (which merely supplies workers to the principal)

• Contracting out job by reason of strike or lockout whether actual or imminent

• Contracting out job or work by union members (to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights to self-organization)

• Requiring contractor's or subcontractor's employees to perform functions currently being performed by regular employees of the principal

• Requiring contractor's or subcontractor's employees to sign, as precondition to employment or continued employment, an antedated resignation letter, a blank payroll, or a quitclaim (documents) among others

• Repeated hiring by contractor or subcontractor of employees for short duration

• Requiring employees under contracting or subcontracting arrangement to sign contract fixing the period of employment to a term shorter than the term of Service Agreement

• Other practices, schemes, or employment arrangements designed to circumvent the right of workers to security of tenure

Bello has vowed to repeal a department order which critics blamed for legalizing the controversial end of contract many employers practice to the detriment of employees, and ordered the department to review Department Order 18-A series of 2011.

"The Department will strictly implement this new DOLE Department Order, all labor laws, rules and regulations to protect worker's rights and promote their welfare particularly on labor standards, self-organization, collective bargaining and security of tenure," Bello said on Thursday.

President Rodrigo Duterte has warned companies practicing the dreaded endo to follow the law even without any audit by the Labor Department, saying firms that were not able to follow the law on premature ending of employments contracts should close down.

Bello said he requested for additional plantilla personnel to monitor the strict implementation of the new Department Order.

"Two hundred additional inspectors. Humihingi pa lang ako ng supplemental budget," he said. — VDS, GMA News