By CONG B. CORRALES
Associate Editor .
COMING at the heels of surging protests, the Kilusang Mayo Uno in northern Mindanao has identified the top companies in the region that have allegedly been practicing labor-only-contracting.
In a phone interview, Wildon Barros of the KMU here challenged the Department of Labor and Employment to sanction the top violators of labor-only-contracting in northern Mindanao.
“Sa atong rehiyon, dili kita matingala nga naapil sa top corporations ang Del Monte, Nestlé, Holcim, La Farge, Coca-cola ug uban pa… kay mao pud ning mga korporasyon nga daghan sa ilang mga trabahante ang nisumbong kanamo ug mireklamo sa isyu sa labor-only-contracting ug uban pa,” Barros said.
Barros said the top three companies in the region are Del Monte, Nestlé, and Coca-cola, respectively.
Barros described the Del Monte’s scheme of contracting labor:“Nagkadaiya ang mga ‘cooperatives’ nga labor-only-contracting. Kunuhay part-owner sila sa agency kay coop man pero kun mag lay off ang mother company, wala’y mabuhat ang agency. Kini bisan pa man nga directly related the operations sa mother company ang ginatrabaho ini nga mga workers.”
With Nestlé, Barros said the company has contracted out the packaging line of its coffee production to “service providers.”
“Illegal kana kay kinahanglan man kanang packaging sa whole production line. Alangan na man ipakumkum lang sa Nestlé ang mupalit og Nescafe. Kinahanglan gyud naa nga i-package una ayha mabaligya,” he pointed out.
Barros also questioned the labor relationship between Fedcon Agency and Nestlé. Although Fedcon is registered as a construction company, he said, its workers have been deployed in the production line of Nestlé.
“Kay construction company man kaha siya (Fedcon), dapat didto ra iyang workers sa mga repairs sa structures ug construction sa mga buildings sulod sa planta,” he said.
As for the Coca-cola Bottling Company, Barros said the firm has contractualized its sales division.
“These types of work are necessary and desirable to the main operations of the companies busa illegal kana nga dili nila iegular ang mga trabahante ini,” he explained.
For his part, lawyer Proculo Sarmen of the Alliance of Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said the labore department must lead in protecting the welfare of workers in the region.
“The continuing practice of labor-only-contracting is exploitative to the workers. We are supposed to be a country of workers, Dole-10 should be more vigilant in monitoring the (exploitative) practice,” Sarmen said.
He said President Duterte should issue an executive order to end labor-only-contracting as he promised or at the very least, certify the Security of Tenure Bill as a priority bill in Congress.
However, none of the top private companies the militant labor federation named can hold a candle against the Duterte administration as the number one violator of labor laws in the country.
Barros said the pervasive practice of labor-only contracting can be attributed to the current administration’s penchant for contractualization.
“Unsaon man pud diay pagtapos ni Duterte sa Endo [End of Contract] nga ang iyang gobyerno mismo No. 1 violator man sa kontraktwalisasyon,” Barros said.
Barros cited the data of the Inventory of Government Human Resources last July 1 that show that of the 2,301,191 total number of government employees, there are currently some 721,282 contract of service, job orders, casual, and contractual workers.
According to the same data set, the top government agency with the most contractual workers is in the Department of Public Works and Highways followed by the departments of health, social welfare, agriculture, transportation, and education, respectively,
Barros said the Confederation for Unity for Recognition, Advancement of Government Employees, a KMU-allied union, is currently studying how to parry Joint Circular No. 1 of the Department of Budget and Management, Civil Service Commission, and the Commission on Audit which, in essence, allows job contracting and legitimizes the contractual-employment scheme in government service.
Sarmen, for his part, said contractualization will be the bane of unionism in the country.
“Dili mudaghan ang mga unyon ini which is supposed to be guaranteed in the Labor Code,” he said.
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