Senator Joel Villanueva.
MANILA -- Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), touted as the country's largest labor union, extolled Senator Joel Villanueva's initiative to refile the vetoed Security of Tenure bill, better known as the "End Endo Bill."
“We thank Senator Villanueva for filing the Anti-endo bill in the senate again. We also urge the president to certify it as urgent again,” TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said in a phone interview.
He revealed that a counterpart SOT bill will also be refiled in the House of Representatives by TUCP Party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza next week.
“If we read and examine the bill carefully, the SOT Bill that President Duterte already vetoed, the proposed measure already contains the provisions that he wanted to have,” Tanjusay added.
Villanueva, who chairs the labor panel, said his Senate Bill 806 was the exact same copy of the bill that President Duterte vetoed last week.
The SOT bill, once enforced, gives management prerogative to hire contractual and outsource seasonal workers, Tanjusay said.
It would also mandate the creation of tripartite councils per industry which would determine which jobs are part of a company's core business and therefore eligible for regularization.
Duterte vetoed the SOT bill last week because it was unduly restrictive to employers and even included other forms of contractualization that do not specifically harm employees.
“Indeed, while labor-only contracting must be prohibited, legitimate job-contracting should be allowed, provided that the contractor is well-capitalized,” the president told lawmakers. (PNA)
