Employers’ groups to police ranks vs ‘endo’

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines and the People Management Association of the Philippines have committed to police their own ranks to ensure that none of their member-companies were engaged in the illegal practices of contractualization or “endo” (end of contract).

This commitment formed part of the joint Labor Law Compliance Code for Employers that the two groups signed on Wednesday. The code, which seeks to end the prohibited practice of “labor-only contracting” with service providers or outsourcing service providers and suppliers, was signed by Ecop president Donald G. Dee and PMAP president Jesse Francis N. Rebustillo.

“It is the unequivocal unwavering position of Ecop and PMAP that all of their members should be compliant to labor laws as well as rules and regulations and programs that afford protection and promote the welfare of workers in the private sector,” Dee said.

He added that Ecop and PMAP would not allow these “illegal practices” as these were “violative of the security of tenure and secured by the Constitution, statute, and jurisprudence.”

Ecop and PMAP have also committed to actively orient and train their member-companies all over the country toward labor law compliance in accordance with prevailing laws, rules and regulations of competent government authorities.

The two groups noted that they also fully supported the initiatives by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to require all legitimate job contractors and outsourcing service providers to possess appropriate Certificate of Compliance on General Labor Standards and on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Standards to ensure full compliance with all applicable labor standards.

Earlier this month, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said he targeted to end by next year the practice of “labor-only contracting” or “endo” in the country through a more stringent enforcement of the existing labor code. Existing laws and orders issued by the DOLE already provide enough legal basis and teeth to curb such practices, he said.

Department Order 18-A Series of 2011 specifically makes “subcontracting a prohibited activity when it is done through repeated hiring of workers for a five to six months’ employment contract under the same employer or service agreement of the same duration.”

Based on the same order, “5-5-5” or “endo” referred to the “hiring practice that is deliberately resorted to to prevent workers from acquiring regular status by reason of length of service of at least six months and one day. Under a subcontracting arrangement, this is done through repeated short-term arrangements by one principal through the same contractor, or under different contractors or repeated short-term arrangements of five months, for example, under the same contractor.”