https://psa.gov.

ph/statistics/survey/labor-force
A third of total workforce are non-regular DoLE

by Samuel Medenilla
May 25, 2014
Read more at http://www.mb.com.ph/a-third-of-total-workforce-are-non-regular-

dole/#1mBs36SfOlYsch7V.99
Around 1.1 million employees or about a third of the countrys total workforce in small and
medium enterprises (SMES) are non-regular laborers, the Department of Labor and Employment
(DoLE) said.
In a recently published report, DoLEs Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) said
these employees work in SMES with at least 20 workers.
This group of workers represents less than one-third (30.5 percent) of the total establishment
workforce of 3.769 million, BLES said.
Labor groups continue to lobby for the abolition of non-regular status, particularly the
contractual scheme, which became prevalent in the local workforce, since they claim some
unscrupulous employers are using it to deny their workers regular status and cut down on labor
cost.

DoLE said it could not ban the practice since it is allowed under the Labor Code. It, however,
opted to implement Department Order 18-A, which provides stringent measures to regulate the
use of the so-called non-regular workers.
Majority or 600,764 of these recorded non-regulars are contractual workers, whose
employment has been fixed for a specific period or project.
It was followed by probationary workers, who are candidates for regular positions in their
companies, with 260,260 employees and casual workers, who are hired, but not necessary in the
operation of a firm, with 202,472 employees.
Seasonal workers, whose employment are influenced by seasonal factors, and apprentices, who
are undergoing training in their selected companies, have a joint share of 85,068 employees.
BLES said these employees are usually found in the administrative and support service
companies, particularly in the business process outsourcing sector with 299,089 non-regular
workers.
The categories of workers employed (in this sector) were mainly contractual/project-based
workers (66.9% or 199,990) and probationary workers (24.6% or 73,455), BLES said.
The manufacturing industry came a closed second in terms of having the biggest number of
non-regulars with 274,014.
The study was part of the nationwide BLES Integrated Survey, which was conducted using
statistical data for 2011 and 2012, covering around 7,000 participating SMES.
The labor department said it will convene with the Philippine Association of Local Service
Contractors, Inc. (PALSCON) this Friday at the Manila Hotel to boost the enforcement of D.O. 18-A
and prepare for the domestic impact of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN)
economic integration next year.
Read more at http://www.mb.com.ph/a-third-of-total-workforce-are-non-regular-

dole/#1mBs36SfOlYsch7V.99
http://www.mb.com.ph/a-third-of-total-workforce-are-non-regular-dole/
Contractualizations impact on the working class
23rd year of the Herrera Law
Capitalists have intensified their oppression of the workers in the last several decades. Aside
from paying them slave wages, they have subjected the workers to varous forms of legal
exploitation through repressive laws like Republic Act 6715, better known as the Herrera Law.
These laws have worsened the workers and their families miserable state and darkened their
futures.
On March 2, 1989, under the regime of Corazon Aquino, the Labor Code of 1974 was amended by
the Herrera Law. The law was named after its proponent, former Sen. Ernesto Herrera, also the
erstwhile leader of the yellow Trade Union Congress of the Philippines. The law expanded the
system of contractualization. Previously confined to the economic zones, it has spread to other
factories, resulting in the widespread massacre of jobs and massive layoffs of workers at the
start of the 1990s.
The Herrera Law allowed various forms of contractual employment, including the currently
widespread system of employing workers through layers upon layers of agencies. More than 90%
of currently available jobs in the Philippines are contractual in nature.
As a result of contractualization, workers have been desprived of their right to job security and
have become vulnerable on a daily basis to more intense exploitation by the capitalists.
Among the first to be hit by this law were the workers of the Philoppine Long Distance Telephone
Company. From 16,000 regular employees in 1995, PLDT now has only about 3,000.
Worst hit by the Herrera Law were the workers of Shoe Mart (SM) in the 1990s when 92% of its
workers became contractuals. The same fate befell the workers of San Miguel Corporation in the
first half of the 2000s. From 26,000, SMC now has only a little more than 1,000 regular workers.
The latest case was Philippine Air Lines where the remaining 2,600 regular employees were fired
in December 2011. They were rehired as contractual workers by agencies owned
by PAL president Lucio Tan and made to work in various departments within PAL.
Just weeks after the passage of the Herrera Law, the Corazon Aquino regime likewise approved
RA 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act, which granted regional wage boards the power to
determine minimum wages. Its objective was to divide the workers national unity and
undermine their ability to demand minimum wage hikes on a nationwide basis.

Contractual workers also receive very low wages compared to regulars. Most of them are not
covered by collective bargaining agreements (CBA) for higher wages and other benefits. Neither
are they given overtime and vacation pay.
According to a study by Ibon Foundation, in April 2011, the country had a 41-million strong labor
force with up to 10.9% or 4.5 million of them unemployed. This was almost double the official
government estimate of 7.2% or 2.9 million jobless workers.

Union and strike busting

Aside from institutionalizing low wages and the lack of job security, the Herrera Law also
undermines unions. When it was enacted in 1989, there were 2.79 million unionized workers.
After 23 years, the number is down to only 1.79 million. There are now only more than 200
registered unions from the previous 627.
The law also weakens the strike movement. From 197 strikes in 1989, there were only two
recorded in 2008.
The law has further suppressed existing unions due to DOLE Department Order 10 issued during
the Ramos regime which fotbids contractual workers from joining unions or other groups. The
order also calls for hiring to be coursed through agencies or subcontractors, relieving companies
of responsibility for providing benefits and services to workers. The decline in the number of
regular workers and their replacement by contractuals slowly weakened existing unions or led to
their eventual demise.
The Herrerra Law pevents workers from exercising their right to strike. It gives powers to
the DOLE secretary to assume jurisdiction over existing conflicts between unions and companies
in the event of a strike. The Herrera Law also strengthens DOLEs powers to rescind the results of
any CBA negotiation that do not favor management.
In fact, some of the nost significant cases of union and strike busting have been recorded since
the Herrera Law was implemented. Some examples include the destruction of the unions at
Shoemart, Light Rail Transit, PLDT, Me-ralco, ABS-CBN Internal Job Marketers, Triumph
International (Philippines) and the Ever Gotesco Mall. Picket lines were dismantled at Nestle, San
Miguel, Lepanto Consolidated Mining, Toyota Nissan, Honda, Yokohama, Phil. Jeon and Hacienda
Luisita, among others.

Violence against workers and trade union leaders

Sixty-seven workers have been killed and 16 forcibly disappeared in the past 11 years. The most
notorious cases involve the murders of Nestle Philippines leader Diosdado Ka Fort Fortuna in
September 2005; Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union chair Ricardo Ramos in October 2005;
National Federation of Sugar Workers leader Armando Dolosa in Negros Occidental in June 2008;
and seven workers of Hacienda Luisita on November 16, 2004 in Tarlac.
On the other hand, despite the Herrera Laws continued onslaught, workers continue to resist it.
They have not relented in asserting their rights to regular employment, decent wages and job
security, and their right to unionize and to strike. Their resistance enables them to assert their
crucial role in production and raise their class consciousness and awareness of their duty to
society.
Latest cases of union busting
Capitalists in connivance with the reactionary government have been systematically and
violently busting unions in the country. Using reactionary laws, they have resorted to various
schemes and projects that run roughshod on the rights of workers to collective representation
and negotiation.
Last April, the Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation ( HSBC) management arbitrarily
dismissed Hongkong Bank Independent Labor Union ( HBILU) chair Raymund Acena on the flimsy
excuse that he allowed the union secretary to use his corporate email address. The union had
long been using its chairs email address as a channel of communication between the leaders
and members.
The union said that the real reason behind Acenas termination was his leadership over the
unions fight against Project Green, a contractualization scheme at the HSBC. Under Project
Green, the company is set to outsource 450 jobs to a third party provider, resulting in the
termination of 300 workers or 45% of the banks entire work force. Up to 90 employees have
already resigned and 169 have transferred to HSBC Data Processing Philippines, a company set
up by HSBC as third party provider.

Acenas termination was timed to coincide with preparations for a new round of negotiations for
a collective bargaining agreement between the union and management.
On the other hand, workers at Coca Cola Philippines Inc. face a huge battle against a new
company scheme to render the union inutile and eventually abolish it. (See related article in Ang
Bayans April 7, 2012 issue) The company refuses to course negotiations for higher wages
through a collective bargaining agreement with the workers. Instead, it shrewdly wants any hike
in wages and benefits to be based on an individual evaluation of the workers. Anyone who fails
the evaluation will be automatically terminated. This scheme not only attacks the workers right
to collective negotiation, it also paves the way for widespread layoffs and the suppression of
regular workers wages.
At Dole-Philippines, management organized a yellow union to rival the workers genuine, militant
union. Management has been using the yellow union to divide the workers ranks, remove
legitimate union leaders and members from their positions and jobs and revoke the gains
achieved by the union. The Dole workers have been harassed by the military which is encamped
near the plantation. In 2008, the union president was slapped with trumped-up charges in court.
At RC Cola Philippines, union members at its Antipolo, Rizal plant were illegally dismissed. The
Samahan ng mga Manggagawa sa RC Cola had filed a petition at the Department of Labor and
Employment for accreditation as the workers legitimate bargaining unit. Management proceeded
to terminate the union members while the petition was pending at the DOLE.
Meanwhile, the members of the Philippine Air Lines Employees Association ( PALEA) continue to
fight the contractualization and other schemes being implemented by the Philippine Air Lines
management to obscure the massive layoffs and union busting being undertaken against one of
the oldest and biggest unions in the Philippines.
Workers in state universities have likewise not been spared. On February 16, the management of
the Polytechnic University of the Philippines dismissed 180 janitors, most of whom have worked
for the university for decades.
These are just some of the victims of union busting under the US-Aquino regime. In the past
several years, the workers of Bleustar Manufacturing and Marketing Corp., Triumph International
(Philippines), Toyota Motors Philippines and ABS-CBN, among others have suffered the same
harassment and repressiveness.
Frozen wages
Malacaang has once again rejected a bill in Congress calling for a P125 increase in the daily
minimum wage, claiming that it would be detrimental to businessmen and the economy.
Even a wage hike before May 1 through the Regional Wage Board in the National Capital Region
has been deemed out of the question by the Department of Labor and Employment ( DOLE) due
to the alleged absence of supervening factors.
In 2011, the only increase allowed was an additional P22 in the Cost of Living Allowance. Its
effect, according to a study by the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Educarion and Research
(EILER) was gone in a matter of four months because of the rapid rise in the cost of goods and
services. In fact, the real value of workers wages and benefits remains at the 1995 level despite
all the increases granted by regional wage boards across the Philippines.
The regime is obviously invoking one pretext after another just to favor its allies among the
comprador bourgeoisie.
To mesmerize the public, Communications Undersecretary Abigail Valte claimed that a P125
wage hike would cost P1.6 trillion, a staggering amount considering that the entire Philippine
economy is worth only P9 trillion.
These dizzying statistics, however, are based on the false premise that the country has 38 million
workers. In fact, only 46% of the countrys entire labor force is composed of private sector wage
workers, who are the target beneficiaries of the porposed P125 wage increase. The rest are
employed by government, own-account workers or unpaid family workers.
But if one is to use figures as a basis, a study by Ibon Foundation would offer far more realistic
conclusions on how a P125 wage increase would impact on the economy.
According to Ibon, in 2009, the entire business sector employing 3.94 million workers had a
combined income of P1.83 billion. A P125 across-the-board increase in the daily wage would
redound to an additional income of P3,802 per month or P40,427 per year per worker. The P125
increase would therefore cost the capitalists a total of P194 million, equivalent to a 12% profit
reduction, leaving them still with a hefty P1.435 billion in profits.

For the Philippines top 1,000 corporations, this reduction in profit is jjust a drop in the bucket.
From 2001 to 2010, their combined net income swelled from P116.4 billion to P804.1 billion.
Their total combined income during this period amounted to P4,593 billion.
This means that they could well afford to grant the P125 wage increase being demanded.
In contrast, workers wages rose by only 45% from 2001 to 2011 while the prices of goods grew
by 62% during the same period. This eroded the real value of workers wages by almost 11%.
A wage increase would defintely help provide at least temporary relief to the economic
difficulties of workers families.
But the Aquino regime turns a blind eye and is starkly insensitive to the impoverishment of the
masses of workers. In the regimes first eight months alone, the real value of the daily minimum
wage in Metro Manila was eroded by P7.00, wiping out the P5.00 real value of all the wage
increases granted by the Arroyo regime from 2001 to 2010. This wage erosion is now definitely
happening at a faster pace, with oil prices rising nine times in the first three months of 2012
alone.

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/publications/ang_bayan/20120421/contractualizations-impact-on-the-working-class
Contractualization: Is it legal and just?
12:01 AM June 2nd, 2015
RECOMMENDED
CONTRACTUALIZATION, a word we read in the newspapers and a topic of discussion in media
when the employment of Filipino workers comes to fore in commercial and industrial operations.
Contractualization is the practice of hiring a worker continuously for a period not exceeding five
months for a specific job, after which a new worker is hired to take his/her place to do the same
job for the next five months, after which another worker is again replaced with a new hire (he/she
could be somebody who had been hired for the same job in the past) who will do the job in the
next five months as well. The cycle goes on and on because the same job or task remains to be
done.
The five-month period of employment of a worker is a deliberate act of the employer. It is done
to circumvent the six-month probationary period, after which a worker, under the law, qualifies to
be appointed as a regular employee and paid the regular workers wage. As a regular employee
or worker, he/she is also entitled to enjoy vacation leaves, sick leaves, maternity leaves; SSS and
Pag-Ibig membership; retirement and all other privileges a regular employee is entitled to under
the law.
To make it easy for employers to hire temporary workers for regular jobs, there are employment
contractors who supply companies with contractual workers, and these workers are shunted from
one company to another. They even appear to be employed by the employment contractors. The
provisions of the Labor Code are flagrantly violated.
Do we now have a new Labor Code that allows employers to circumvent the six-month
probationary period of employment? If the president of the Philippines and the labor secretary
allow contractualization of labor because this is fair and just to the Filipino worker, I stand
corrected.

APOLONIO G. RAMOS, 42 Mindanao St., Marikina City

Read more: http://opinion.inquirer.net/85403/contractualization-is-it-legal-and-

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Why contractualization should stop
Workers say the fight against contractualization encountered both victories and attacks in 2013
In the labor coalition Nagkaisas dialogue with President Aquino prior to this May Day,
the number one topic was to ensure security of tenure of workers by eliminating
contractualization scheme and deter extra-judicial killings of union organizers and journalists.
Upon reviewing the struggle against contractualization in 2013, one encounters both victories
and attacks. For example, this May Day will be the first that the Philippine Airlines Employee

Association (PALEA) will celebrate as reinstated employees. The PALEA settlement signals that
Filipino labor united under the Nagkaisa! Coalitionbanner may have staunched the tide of
contractualization in traditional industrial sectors.

Unions under attack

On the other hand, the Digitel Employees Union (DEU) struggle continues, with theNLRC 2nd
Division ruling last month against the union, effectively sanctioning the way in which DIGITEL let
go of all its workers to replace them with contractuals.
Furthermore, at Galeo Equipment and Mining Company, a contractor at the Carmen Copper
Corporations mine in Toledo City, a Temporary Restraining Orderwas raised effectively
disenfranchising half of the more than 500 workers from voting in the recent certificate elections.
The dispute arose while the elections were in process, based on claims by the Asiapro
manpower cooperative that the Galeo workers are their members and thus exempt from
unionization.
However the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) had already ruled that their union
elections can continue despite Asiapros opposition.

BPO illegal closures

A troubling spate of illegal BPO closures stands as a warning to a current generation of young
workers, ringing warning bells that should raise the hackles of young BPO contractuals.
First, Direct Access folded up last July 2012, leaving over 600 employees in severe financial
duress, including extremes that resulted in the malnourishment and hospitalization of one
former employee. In response, Direct Access workers formed the workers association called the
Inter Call Center Association for Workers (ICCAW).
ICCAW fought to regain unpaid wages, commissions, overtime pay and separation benefits, and
eventually won, all the while pushing for reforms in the so-called "BPO Sweatshops".
Then, on the heels of this closure, the workers of the bankrupt Cordia-Philippinesdiscovered
that their former employer had P1.6 million in assets left in the bank and was operating another
company in Mandaue City called Geils Communications. This prompted the former workers to file
a case with the NLRB.

No compensation
Based on these illegal closures, ICCAW pushed for DOLE to compel call center companies to post
cash bonds equivalent to the salaries and benefits of its total workforce for a one-month period.
Yet despite the simplicity of this proposal, DOLE has yet to implement it.
Then, in December 2013, the Cebu-based Leadamorphosis folded up, leaving over 100 workers
without their last months pay. Leadamorphosis handles voice and non-voice marketing for US
brands, including General Electric.
The American CEO, Paul Flannery, flew the coop and did not show when DOLE attempted to
arrange a teleconference with the disenfranchised workers. The workers, several of whom are
ICCAW members, received no compensation, and held vigils in front of the shuttered offices so
that the owners could not remove the equipment remaining inside.

BPO self-regulation
According to Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda
Dimapilis-Baldoz, "the Philippines is moving inexorably towards the development of a culture of
voluntary compliance with labor standards and occupational health and safety that will raise the

bar of competitiveness of the Philippine economy."

Last March, President Aquino approved the Act Strengthening Tripartism which will
supposedly improve the resolution of labor disputes though negotiations that pre-empt lawsuits.

DOLE thereafter proclaimed success, stating that "the voluntary codes of good practices
adopted by various regional industries have minimized government intervention and fostered
harmonious labor-management relations in the affairs of private sector businesses."

Worker organizations
Is self-regulation a realistic idea towards managing BPO labor rights? No!
Tripartism can scarcely function as promised if the employer goes missing, as did the American
CEO Flannery. Leadamorphosis, part of a spate of recent illegal closures in the BPO sector, has
proven this idea to be an incomplete solution.
Contractualization attacks on the industrial sector also prove that all too often, industry prefers
End-of-Contract (ENDO) employees to unionized workers.
The young BPO workers must awaken to the reality that their rights will not be protected if they
do not organize.
ICCAW presents one option towards organizing that accommodates the precarious nature of
ENDO labor. While advances must be made, ultimately resulting in the unionization of the BPO
sector, for the time being, workers must rely upon associations to educate themselves of their
rights, to seek redress for their grievances, and orient themselves politically.
It also presents the option of international solidarity, such as joint actions and solidarity letters to
the American vendors who manufacture and peddle the products serviced by Filipino call centers.

As Nagkaisa! rallies this May day at Mendiola, we must be reminded of the labor movement
that exists, both in the Philippines and internationally, and work to direct this energy in the
workplace as well as politically towards the emancipation of labor. Rappler.com

Daniel Rudin is an independent documentary filmmaker and video artist. He worked with
Rappler as a Luce Scholar.
http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/56870-may-day-contractualization-remains-top-labortopic