Militant groups stage rallies ahead of Labor Day

MILITANT labor groups based in Cebu will hold a rally today in front of the regional Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) office ahead of Labor Day on May 1 next Monday.

Teody Navea, chairman of the Bukluran ng Mangagawang Pilipino, said they will march from Barangay Careta to the DOLE regional office to call on the government to end contractualization.

“Hired workers should be hired directly and not through agency. Workers hired through agency lack benefits compared to direct hiring,” Navea said.

He said they are holding President Rodrigo Duterte on his promise to end contractualization.

He said they are opposed to Department Order (DO) 174 signed by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III since it prohibits labor-only contracting.

Section 5 of DO 174 prohibits labor-only contracting if the contractor or subcontractor does not have substantial capital and the contractor/subcontractor doesn’t have investments like equipment for the business.

Labor-only contracting is also prohibited if the employees recruited and placed are performing activities directly related to the main business operation and the contractor/subcontractor has no control over the employee’s performance.

Regional DOLE Director Elias Cayanong said contractualization under Labor Code 442 can only be regulated. Even before DO 174 was implemented, he said 2,700 workers were voluntarily regularized.

“When this (DO 174) was implemented there were more workers that have been regularized,” Cayanong said but he had no available figures yesterday.

The Paritido ng Manggagawa is also scheduled to hold a rally on May 1, Monday.

Dennis Derige, spokesman of the Partido ng Mangagawa, said they will vent their opposition to contractualization during their May 1 rally.

“This DO 174 is the worst and it encourages agency hiring,” Derige said.

Derige said their leaders will have a dialogue with President Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City next Monday.

On May 1, Cayanong said their office will sponsor activities like a solidarity run and caravan from Lapu-Lapu City to Talisay City on Monday morning.

A eucharistic celebration and a commemorative program will follow at Sisters of Mary Girls Town in Talisay City.

On May 1, there will be local and international job fairs in their Cebu provincial field office, the Abellana Sports Complex, SM City Cebu and Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City.

The fairs are offering 10,000 job vacancies.