The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), which is touted as the country’s largest labor union, thanked Senator Joel Villanueva for refiling the Security of Tenure bill (SOT) or the “End Endo Bill” which was vetoed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“We also urge the President to certify it as urgent again.”
“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.
Tanjusay revealed that a counterpart SOT bill will also be refiled in the House of Representatives by TUCP Party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza.
“The bill that President Duterte vetoed already contains the provisions that he wanted to have.”
Villanueva, who chairs the labor panel, said his Senate Bill 806 is the exact same copy of the bill that Duterte had vetoed recently.
“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,” said Tanjusay.
The SOT bill, once enforced into law, 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 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,” Duterte told lawmakers.