黑料社

(First of two parts)

On his fourth month as a salesclerk, Mark finally adjusted to a new work routine just when his contract is about to end next month.

From 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., he works at a supermarket chain in the City of San Fernando, receiving new product shipments and processing 鈥渂ad orders鈥� or expired items.

He gets one day off every Sunday and is paid the minimum daily wage of P336 in Pampanga province, or about P8,000 a month, a tad below the official poverty threshold of P8,022 a month for a family of five in the first half of 2013.

Come June 5, however, 21-year-old Mark (not his real name) will have to change his routine to a more familiar one that centers on a never-ending job hunt to earn enough money to support his family.

On Sunday, when the Inquirer spoke to Mark, the clerk had just come from a regular work shift although it was his day off.

Even that was practically routine, Mark said. Working beyond the required hours happened often since his five-month contract with the supermarket chain began in January, the tail-end of peak season.

鈥淪ometimes I extend my work to 30 minutes [because I want] to finish it, but that鈥檚 not part of overtime,鈥� he said, adding that he wasn鈥檛 the only one among his colleagues who did it.

In June, Mark鈥檚 contract will end and he will have to find work elsewhere, whether near Santa Ana town where he lives with his parents and three brothers, or in Manila where he said there was more work to be found.

Breadwinner

Now, he endures traveling for about 45 minutes from Santa Ana to San Fernando for work every day.

As breadwinner, Mark cannot be on his own yet since he has to help his family.

Being jobless is not an option, he said. There is still a 20-year-old brother鈥檚 tuition to pay for his second year in college, a cost he shoulders now that his parents have no work except for his father鈥檚 occasional stint as a roof fixer.

Another brother, 18, works at a fast-food chain; the youngest, 17, hopes to enter college after graduating from high school this year.

Contractualization rampant

Mark is one of the many endo, or end-of-contract workers, under what trade unions dub contractualization scheme, which refers to short-term and unprotected temporary work arrangements.

In its many forms, contractualization is rampant in the country. Endo workers, in particular, are bound by a five-month timeframe so that companies will not make them regular employees after six months under the Labor Code.

From this arrangement stems the 5-5-5 scheme in which an endo worker is hired and fired every five months so that employers will not make them permanent employees.

Across industries

Contractualization also 鈥渃uts across industries and economic sectors, from construction to manufacturing and even in the information and communications sector,鈥� said Anna Leah Escresa, executive director for the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (Eiler).

The supermarket, in fact, is Mark鈥檚 second endo stint. In his previous job, also in sales, Mark ended up staying for over a year despite his contract.

After five months, Mark unofficially worked for the company for another 17 months, split between two branches, and was not part of the regular payroll.

At the time, how Mark got the money didn鈥檛 matter. It was stable work, he said, and considered himself lucky to at least have a weekly salary.

Not uncommon

Mark鈥檚 story is not uncommon where he works. Even his girlfriend, 19-year-old Jessa (not her real name) whom he met on the job, was an endo worker in the same supermarket until March.

Like Mark, Jessa鈥檚 contract as a salesclerk assigned to the fresh produce department was for only five months beginning September last year. Like Mark, Jessa does not live in San Fernando but in Macabebe town. Jessa was also paid P8,000 a month and regularly worked overtime in a more demanding and ever-changing schedule.

鈥淥nly a few lasted in our area because it was hard,鈥� she said. A Tuesday day-off was her only rest day. 鈥淵ou [also] can鈥檛 avoid supervisors who want things done very fast.鈥�

Jessa has yet to find another job since her contract ended, choosing to help run the family鈥檚 sari-sari store with her mother. But she plans to find work to augment the money her father sends from Saudi Arabia. She is hoping Mark will help her with that as well when he hunts for a new job by June. 鈥淗e told me we鈥檇 look for work together,鈥� she said.

鈥淭ogether鈥� for Mark and Jessa could mean another five-month stint at a different supermarket chain recommended by people they know. 鈥淭ogether,鈥� however, could end just as quickly if Mark pursues his plan to work in Dubai with his uncle, or if Jessa finishes another two-year course on hotel and restaurant management in Manila.

Below minimum

鈥淓ndo workers are paid very low wages, oftentimes below the prevailing minimum wage rates and are forced to work for long hours,鈥� Escresa said.

鈥淰arious reports from workers confirm that endo workers are often not paid overtime. They only receive minimum mandatory benefits, such as SSS and PhilHealth.鈥�

Mark and Jessa are even considered lucky that they had overtime pay, except it would have given them at most P1,000 each a month. They considered it a small bonus, sometimes not worth the effort to file and have it approved by their supervisors.

The minimum benefit package that endo workers receive doesn鈥檛 run parallel with the growth of the top companies in the country.

Top firms鈥� huge profits

Citing 2012 data from research group Ibon Foundation, Kilusang Mayo Uno chair Elmer Labog said that 鈥渋n 2006, the profits of the top 1,000 corporations in the country reached P599 billion and just after six years, in 2012, their profits almost doubled to P1.08 trillion.鈥�

鈥淚f companies are growing and earning more, why aren鈥檛 workers getting more?鈥� Labog said.

Labor research group Eiler sees the inequality as one of the social implications of contractualization.

鈥淭he scheme persists precisely because companies find it very lucrative. Hiring contractual workers means saving on labor costs, as contractual workers are paid less than regular counterparts and are denied the full package of benefits,鈥澛� Eiler executive director Escresa said.

Attack on labor rights

While contractualization generates immense profit for companies, it is entirely an attack on workers鈥� basic labor rights, she added. Endos are getting much less than what they are entitled to in jobs that are not even stable.

Without college degrees鈥擬ark only finished three years of computer science at St. Nicolas College and Jessa, a two-year vocational course in hotel and restaurant services at Asian Caregiving Technology Education Center鈥攖he two have slim chances of being 鈥渞egulars.鈥�

Other employees, however, offered the clerks a glimmer of hope. 鈥淚f you have perfect attendance and if your performance is good, you have a chance to become a regular [employee],鈥� Jessa said, which was what happened to her sister, who was a contractual worker for a year in the same company before becoming a full-time employee.

But with no four-year degree to boast of like her sister鈥攁 requirement that helps fast-track job security鈥擩essa knew that she could never follow in her sister鈥檚 footsteps.

Dengue depletes tuition

Mark, too, has heard of this possibility if he performs well enough. But he knows better when it comes to his chances, having quit college after his tuition was used to pay for his hospital bills when he contracted dengue in 2012.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think about being regular because there hasn鈥檛 been an undergraduate who has done it yet in my area,鈥� he added.

Even with the temporary work they do, the two are grateful. After all, not all undergraduates are lucky enough to have jobs.

Looking at contractualization in a sense that it provides livelihood even to those with minimal educational attainment, an economics professor said it could help bridge socioeconomic gaps.

鈥淚f contractualization leads to greater employment for the unemployed, especially for those with lower skill [sets], then we can say it helps in terms of inclusive growth,鈥� said Geoffrey Ducanes, assistant professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics.

But this is just one face of the coin, he added, because if the system leads to 鈥渓ower labor standards,鈥� it doesn鈥檛 make a difference.

Worsening inequality

鈥淚f the result of contractualization is a lower labor standard鈥攆or example, wages are fixed always at minimum wage and workers have no other benefits and the lower-skilled people are not employed, then this contributes to worsening inequality in the country,鈥� Ducanes said.

鈥極bligations with a period鈥�

But despite the dismal conditions, contractualization is allowed under the law. Although the 1989 Labor Code mentions only four types of employment鈥攔egular, project employment, seasonal and casual鈥攃ontractual workers are allowed under the Civil Code, said Jonathan Sale, dean of the UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations.

鈥淯nder the law on obligations and contracts under the Civil Code, particularly under the 鈥榦bligations,鈥� there is what they call 鈥榦bligations with a period鈥� and that is the basis of contractual employment. The other terms used in relation to contractual employment is 鈥榝ixed period employment鈥� or 鈥榯erm employment,鈥欌�� Sale said.

Illegal

Repeated contractualization, however, in which an employee鈥檚 contract is renewed every five months under the same employer is illegal, according to Sale.

鈥淚f the purpose of the employer in laying down the [repeated] period [of five months] is to prevent the employee from attaining a regular status or security of tenure, then it鈥檚 illegal. It鈥檚 contrary to law and renders the contract void,鈥� he said.

鈥淏ut the problem is: What employer will candidly admit that that is the purpose, 鈥檇i ba?鈥� he added.

The varying name of contractualization is just one of the reasons it is rampant today.

Large, growing sector

According to the 2012 Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics Integrated Survey (BITS), 30.5 percent of total employment constitutes nonregular workers, which account for apprentices, probationary, seasonal, casual and project-based workers.

The sector with the biggest share of nonregular workers is construction with 71.4 percent, followed by administrative and support services with 39 percent and manufacturing with 29.7 percent.

The BITS results are but rough estimates as the survey is based only on forms submitted by establishments with 20 or more workers, and thus based on a total employment figure of 3,769,259.

Even Sale said the number of temporary workers varied depending on definitions used.

鈥淭he statistics varies [in counting the temporary and informal workers]. In the International Labor Organization, about 40 percent to 80 percent workers are in the informal economy 鈥�. So I guess we really have to determine it once and for all,鈥� Sale said.

鈥淏ut whatever it is, whether it鈥檚 40 percent, 80 percent, or anything between 40 percent to 80 percent, it鈥檚 there and it鈥檚 a large sector. It鈥檚 very substantial. It鈥檚 large and it鈥檚 growing,鈥� he also said.

Labor surplus

This growing percentage has led to a 鈥渓abor surplus鈥� in the Philippines, said Ducanes. Because of this excess, manpower is the country鈥檚 biggest come-on for potential investors.

鈥淚t (labor) is our competitive advantage,鈥� Ducanes said. 鈥淲e have a big pool of skilled or better-educated workers who are also good at English.鈥� These skill sets are also the reason Filipinos are employed overseas in various sectors, he added.

But the labor surplus, according to Ducanes, only makes it that much harder for endo workers to bargain for bigger wages and more benefits.

鈥淥n the one hand, you want to protect the workers. On the other, you want to make it easy for business to be established and for the unemployed to be employed,鈥� he said.

In most cases, the latter reasoning prevails because employing contractual workers 鈥渁ffords companies greater flexibility,鈥� Ducanes said.

Should an economic crisis occur or should the demand for certain goods go down, companies have to only wait out the workers鈥� five-month contracts or fire them on the spot without the need to give separation pay or other benefits.

The surplus even assures companies that they can easily find new and willing contractual workers. 鈥淓ven if you fire workers, you feel confident that when you need to hire somebody again, you can always get from the pool of the unemployed,鈥� he said.

鈥淐ontractualization in essence makes hiring and firing easy,鈥� he added.

Legal reinforcer

Eiler considers Articles 106-109 of the Labor Code, or what they call 鈥淗errera Law,鈥� as the reinforcer of the contractual scheme.

鈥淎rticles 106-109 allow contracting and subcontracting arrangements, and empowers the labor secretary to issue rules that promote contractualization,鈥� Escresa said.

To supplement the Herrera Law, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) approved in 2011 Department Order 18-A, which states the illegal forms of contractualization but does not ban it altogether.

For Escresa, DO 18-A merely downplays the harsh work environment contractual workers have to live in.

鈥淒O 18-A deodorizes the rampant implementation of contractual arrangements in many companies, as it tries to promote contractual workers鈥� rights while encouraging businesses to adopt 鈥榚thical鈥� contractualization,鈥� she said.

And while the law allows even contractual workers to organize and protest, it is all but a theory, Labog said, 鈥渁s we know that management can easily fire these people.鈥�

Not only does it trivialize job security for endo workers but contractualization also makes it harder for regular employees to demand better pay and benefits, Labog said.

鈥淭he expanding pool of contractual workers, often outnumbering the regular workers, also has a huge impact on our organizing effort as management can use them against the regular workers who launch mass actions to push for higher wages and more benefits,鈥� he said.

Fight for regularization

It is the contractual workers who keep the business running when unions decide to launch a strike and boycott work, said Nelson Cornelio who speaks from experience as a former union leader and mall employee for 14 years.

鈥淪o we in the union realized that we have to also fight for the regularization of these workers,鈥� Cornelio said.

Cornelio鈥檚 union once succeeded in this goal with hundreds of endo workers 鈥渞egularized鈥� but the company eventually responded with new tactics to prevent it from happening again, he said.

The state of contractual workers can be attributed to the neoliberal schemes of policymakers, Labog said.

鈥淭hey believe that to invite foreign investment, the state of labor should be depressed, meaning lower wages, contractualization, among others,鈥� he said.

鈥淭he government keeps on saying that human resource is our biggest asset but they cannot even protect and uphold the rights of the workers,鈥� Labog said.

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