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KMU-Cordi slams DOLE sec for anti-labor proposal

BAGUIO CITY (April 28) – The Kilusang Mayo Uno –Cordillera (KMU-Cordillera) hit Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas anew for her proposal allowing employers to hire fresh graduates as trainees or apprentices only.

KMU-Cordillera Spokesperson James Tulipa said that the proposal of Sto. Tomas is obviously an attack to the right to job security. Tulipa lambasted the Department of Labor and employment (DOLE) of negligence in looking for solutions in containing the growing number of unemployment which was augmented by the flooding of fresh graduates.

Sto. Tomas said that the employers hiring apprentices will be able to save more because they will pay them only 75% of the prevailing minimum wage rate. Sto. Tomas even added that the employers can save 50% if they chose to pay their apprentices full wages.

Sto. Tomas and the DOLE are offering various incentives to employers who will hire trainees and apprentices via the ongoing Kasanayan at Kabuhayan (KASH) program of DOLE, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Agency (TESDA) in cooperation with employer groups.

Tulipa explained that apprentices can only work for a period of 4 to 6 months and can be immediately laid off anytime if the employer wishes to. Tulipa criticized Sto. Tomas for being viciously anti-worker and a puppet of employers who are seeking out ways to further worsen the exploitation of workers and accumulate more profits.

Meanwhile, Anakpawis Party list Representative Crispin Beltran said that once the Sto. Tomas proposal will be legislated and put into law, it will undermine the struggles of the workers for job security, regularization and tenure.

“This is an outright attack against the workers. Labor flexibility schemes have already denied thousands of workers their right to job security, adequate wages and social security benefits. Sto. Tomas is making a recommendation that seeks to completely do away with the long fought rights of workers,” Beltran added.

Beltran also lamented that although Labor-Only-Contracting (LOC) has been declared unlawful in the Labor Code, there is still no penalty imposed upon those who will engage in LOC, thereby giving one the impression that the scheme is not really prohibited by the government. Beltran further said that actually, LOC is being encouraged by the government. # Aldwin Quitasol for NORDIS

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