This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 9, April 2-8, 2006
LABOR WATCH
Odd Jobs
under the Arroyo administration
While the unemployed have very
limited options under the employment generation plan of the Macapagal-Arroyo
administration, employed workers are being battered by labor contractualization
and other flexible work arrangements.
BY MARYA G. SALAMAT The Macapagal-Arroyo
administration boasts that it is handling the economy well claiming a 6.1
percent growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the 4th
quarter of 2005. It also said that it was able to generate 750,000 jobs in 2005
and achieved a slight improvement in the unemployment rate in January of 2006
down to 7.4 percent from 7.7 percent. But a survey conducted by
the World Bank revealed that almost a fifth of the Filipino people reported
experiencing hunger while about half considered themselves impoverished. If only
7.4 percent of the population is unemployed, how come 17 percent of the
population experienced hunger? Economists have pointed to
the unproductive quality of jobs being generated. In 2005 most jobs generated
were in unpaid family work in agriculture and in own-account jobs. This is
consistent with the employment generation plan of the Macapagal-Arroyo
administration. A January article of the Business World revealed that
Malacanang
hinged its job generation plan on developing agribusiness lands (more of
agriculture) and propping up micro businesses to become small and medium
enterprises (SMEs). Agriculture and small to medium enterprises historically
employ the bulk of the country’s labor force. Added to this, the Arroyo
administration aims to attract foreign investors by providing tax incentives and
offering cheap labor in the form of labor flexibilisation.
Legalizing
contractualization Analysts have described
labor flexibilisation as the preferred labor setup in today’s globalizing
economy. This set-up was first implemented in export processing zones and
industrial parks. Macapagal-Arroyo rescinded
Department of Labor (DOLE) Order No. 10-97, only to replace it with Order No.
18-02. DOLE Order No. 10-97 provided a list of jobs that cannot be contracted.
In doing so, it allowed the contractualization of jobs outside of the list.
DOLE Order No.18-02 declared the practice of contractualization as legal for as
long as it does not fall within the category of “labor only contracting”, which
is measured by the amount of capital and control of the supposed employer. It
also equated security of tenure to having a definite contract instead of the
regular and permanent status previously enjoyed by workers who have worked for
more than six months. Lately, the Arroyo government initiated moves to revise
the Labor Code to reinforce and legalize the various practices of labor
contractualization. Contractualization means
replacing regular workers with temporary workers who receive lower wages with no
or less benefits. These temporary workers are sometimes called contractuals,
trainees, apprentices, helpers, casuals, piece raters, agency-hired, project
employees, etc. They do the work of regular workers for a specified and limited
period of time, usually less then six months. The work they do is “desirable and
necessary” for the company’s survival, but they never become regular employees
even if they get rehired repeatedly under new contracts. Citing government data from
1990-94, a research by the Asia-Pacific Research Network (APRN) in 2000 revealed
that the combined share of casual, contractual and part-time workers in total
enterprise-based employment was between 14-15 percent. It went up to 18.1
percent from 1994 to 1995. By 1997, the figure has reached 21.1 percent, meaning
that for every five workers one is a casual, contractual or part-timer worker. The data excluded other
forms of contractual labor arrangements such as subcontracting, agency-hiring,
job-out, home work and other schemes that deny workers their security of tenure.
In the more than 20
branches of Shoe Mart (SM), one of the biggest chain of shopping malls in the
country, in 2002, nine out of ten workers are contractuals, hired either through
an agency or by a concessionaire, said Maristel Garcia, spokesperson of the
Sandigan ng mga Manggagawa sa Shoemart, the union of SM employees. Contractuals abound in
export zones and industrial parks around the country, such as those in Baguio
City, Cavite, and Laguna. A survey of APRN covering 14 unions under the Kilusang
Mayo Uno (KMU or May 1st Movement) in the National Capital Region
revealed that contractual workers comprise 67 percent of the workforce at the
time. This is despite KMU’s efforts at protecting job security and benefits.
“It is true that
contractual labor is now really extensive. Easily seven in every 10 companies
practice contractualization,” Donald Dee, president of the Employers
Confederation of the Philippines, told Manila Times in 2003. “We know for a fact
that contractualization is meant to avoid regularization,” admitted Dee.
Today the share of
contractuals in the total workforce may even be bigger. For example, after SM
management practically crushed the union by terminating all striking union
workers in 2003, Garcia said, it stopped regularizing workers and was able to
employ more contractuals. In other large firms,
threats of retrenchment complemented by early retirement schemes resulted in a
stripped-to-the-core number of regular workers. The Philippine Long Distance
Company (PLDT), the country’s largest telecom company, was able to reduce its
workforce from 14,000 to 10,000. Its rank and file union membership has dwindled
from 7,000 to 4,100. It was also able to reduce the 3,000-member supervisory
union to just about 2,000. The rest of PLDT’s required manpower comes from
contractual workers who are paid piece meal, per phone installation or telecom
services sold. In Japanese-owned Asahi
Glass Corporation, the ranks of regular workers have been decimated after a wave
of forcible retirements. Retired workers were subsequently rehired as
contractuals. At present, there are five contractual employees for every
regular worker. Intensified exploitation Contractualization further
depresses the already low wages of Filipino workers. APRN’s research revealed
that at least 4 out of 10 contractuals are paid below the mandated minimum wage.
Contractuals spend as much as PhP500 to PhP1,000 in application requirements and
cost of uniforms and other work paraphernalia such as sewing kits for garments
workers. While performing the work
of regular workers who earn a bit more than the minimum wage on account of their
previous collective bargaining agreements, SM contractuals for instance don’t
get to enjoy the same benefits. Contractuals cannot refuse
overtime work, which during the peak season means working for more than 16 hours
continuously. In some Bulacan industrial parks, children help their parents
fulfill their quota working well into the next morning to rush products for
shipment during peak seasons. APRN also found that
contractualization further brings down the workers’ self-esteem. As a whole,
management looks down on workers but their biggest contempt is reserved for
contractuals. Bosses tend to heap more verbal abuses and workload on their
contractual workers. Two opposing camps in
Congress Representatives from
Anakpawis (Toiling Masses), Bayan Muna (People First) and Gabriela Women’s
Party, as well as other concerned senators and congressmen, have filed House
Bill 5996 providing for the regularization of contractual workers and the
prohibition of labor contractualization. In 2004, they worked for a P50 ($0.97
at $1 : P51.125) wage hike for contractuals. They also tried to plug loopholes
in the Labor Code that open the workers to exploitative setups in the name labor
flexibilisation. . On the other side, the
administration sponsored Senate Bill 2570 and 6031 providing for flexible work
arrangements. The DOLE also released orders legalizing contractualization and
other flexible work arrangement such as the compressed workweek, which allows
companies to extend the work day beyond eight hours without overtime pay. . At present, DOLE and
employers’ groups are batting for amendments to the Labor Code consistent with
the recommendations of the 2000 Labor Code Review Project, which reinforces and
legalizes existing practices of labor contractualization, lengthens
apprenticeship periods, sets hourly wage rates, allows flexible working hours,
provides for shortened breaks and a compressed workweek, and redefines the
status of workers. . Thus, in Congress there are
two conflicting proposals to amend the Labor Code, one coming from
administration legislators, DOLE and employers’ groups and the other from
progressive party-lists and labor federations. Employers and the DOLE are openly
campaigning for their version, throwing the specter of firms closing down and
abandoning the country if workers’ wages and benefits are slightly improved.
Workers can only hope that
their version be heard in Congress. But then again, they may have to
start from redrawn battle lines – the few representatives they have in Congress
are currently under persecution by the Arroyo administration. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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