CONGRESS must work overtime to ensure the passage of an anti-contractualization law before going into recess.
Senate Bill 1826, known as An Act Strengthening Workers Right to Security of Tenure, was certified urgent by President Duterte in September 2018 yet. Its counterpart measure, House Bill 6908, was approved by the House of Representatives just this Jan. 29.
The Security of Tenure (SOT) bill is not enough, according to militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno, but it should be passed and improved towards the goal of ending labor contractualization in the country.
We recognize the limits of the SOT proposal – it doesn’t prohibit job contracting, but that issue can be addressed separately. Regularization is a very important right that should be enjoyed by all workers, and the sooner that a law is passed recognizing and affirming this right, the better.
So many reforms are needed to be implemented to improve the welfare and economic conditions of workers so they can be empowered to lift themselves and their families from poverty and improve their quality of life and living conditions. Workers across the country are waiting for an anti-contractualization bill passed into law.
May 1, International Labor Day, is just around the corner. The Senate should beat the deadline and ensure the bill’s passage. I
This is the measure that the Senate should exhaust its hours and resources on – not the proposal to lower the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility or MACR. The SOT bill will go a long way towards helping workers gain job security in their places of work. The lack of job security is a serious problem suffered by millions of workers, contributing to elevated unemployment rates and increasing poverty levels.
Security of tenure is a basic right of both public and private sector workers. It means that workers cannot just be terminated except for a just cause or after a due process. Regularization is linked to other fundamental workers’ rights. It is long overdue that our legislators recognize and reaffirm that the right to work and the right to life obviously take precedence over other considerations.
