BEST GIFT FOR CONTRACTUAL WORKERS

by Wilhelmina S. Orozco


Whenever I vist the malls I get to talk to those women who watch over the entries to cinema houses, the sellers who stand up for 12 to 15 hours on their post because they are not allowed to sit down except probably for a few minutes to eat or snack, as well as those janitresses. Always, they tell me they are contractuals: after 6 months they take a vacation and then wait for a newcontract.

They never get to earn credits for working so hard. They are just honored for the day/s that they are there. This is so unlike those tenured and regular employees who earn credits -- vacation leaves, sick leaves, maternity benefits, child benefits, etc.

The business of contractualization was started because the employers complained about the high salaries they have to pay, apart from the benefits they have to take care of. The compromise with the government was to allow contractualization, just so more people would have jobs, no matter if there are no other benefits save the daily wages.

But this is rather unfair because those who hire them are still in business, going strong and even opening up more branches nationwide and abroad. And so the labor of the contractuals have contributed a the continuation of their business, apart from their expansion.

Hence, this is my suggestion: a company that continues to exist and has an income that is super -- running into millions should be required to hire the employees that they have contractually hired after two years.

Secondly, businesses that used contractual employees should reserve 25% of their net income to pay for the benefits of the contractuals. In other words, although the contractuals' appointment ends after 6 months, they can look forward to having an income once the company registers its income statement to the BIR.

I think that contractuals deserve a better humane treatment especially at this time that more and more women especially are being drawn to separate themselves from their families in order to go abroad and seek greener pastures. By allowing this contractualization to happen, the government is being drawn into a circuitous economic set up that is breaking up families, rearing morally lost children and spouses that turn against their marital vows. This is not creating a healthy society at all.

Now is the time really to look at contractualization in the eye and tell the employers: we have had enough of this circumventing what should be respect for the dignity of labor.