On Labor Day, thousands or perhaps millions of workers will
march on city streets to press for the ending of contractualization of labor. May
1, as I have pointed out time and again, falls on the Feast Day of my
hometown’s patron, St. Joseph the Worker. The merriment appears to be endless
like our working class’ demand to end contractualization commonly called as
“endo”, slang for end-of-contract. The issue is not even part of political discourses
in the whole non-industrial province of Occidental Mindoro much more
mobilizations as such. The weeklong fiesta celebration starts today.
Endo just became the President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s presidential
campaign promise showing that this administration who assured change remains under
control of the capitalists. Philippines is controlled by the elite for the
prominent legislators and politicians are also business tycoons and industry
leaders demonstrating the link with wealth and power, politics and capital. The
oligarchs remain strong and influential in this impoverished nation, then and
now. What can one expect? Change, it appears, is still at the end of the dark
tunnel.
The labor department’s DO 174 just institutionalized
contractualization for it is a watered-down, weak and pro-capitalists order
coming from the executive branch. The president tossed it to Congress for
legislative action. Truth is, labor secretary Silvestre Bello III could easily
end contractualization upon orders of his principal. It is crystal clear in Article
106 of the Labor Code that, “The
Secretary of Labor and Employment may, by appropriate regulations, restrict or
prohibit the contracting-out of labor to protect the rights of workers
established under this Code.” For more than two decades, the labor
department has adopted the weak approach and has chosen to restrict contracting
arrangements instead of prohibiting “endo”. Since the beginning, the
department’s method has been demonstrated to be a total letdown.
Truth to tell, festivities, like society in general, cannot
exist without work. For work produces the vegetables and plants the farmers
display and sell at the trade fair, the fishes and meats and all the food
commodities that are abundant in the public market as the fiesta comes near.
Work makes us taste and be nourished by the food that the service providers and
caterers offer during banquets and boodle fights. Work makes the event
organizers, make-up artists and dance instructors or choreographers in a beauty
pageant show their crafts to gain respect. Work makes possible the aesthetic
value of the floats, stages and all the physical preparations in all the
fiesta’s activity venues. Let the contractual employees and the job orders of a
certain local government unit and private companies not work in preparation and
during fiestas, what kind of fiesta we will have? For labor is an activity of a human person,
physical and intellectual where s/he produces something different for
perfection, to say the least, achievements. Work is dynamic and cannot be
static. Work is a right and not just a privilege. Work must be permanent and not
just temporary.
This blog entry is a humble tribute to those lowly clerks
and employees at the Gaisano Mall, Jollibee and Mang Inasal and all the
business establishments in San Jose. Including the kasambahays, the labanderas, the
security guards, job orders and casual employees of the government especially
those who are under the fangs and claws of contractualization. How many San
Jose Fiestas will come before they finally enjoy the security of tenure, the
living wage and all other rights assured by the Constitution?
This is the very day where the Latin words ora and labora are subdued by festivus. Many roamed in the streets for the grand festival but only a few hears novena masses honoring in prayers their patron saint. A time when only few
Catholic workers are aware that Joseph is their patron saint, of the working
class and the workers in general.
The existence of human being is for lasting work for creating
what is valuable, useful, beneficial, noble, decent and beautiful, 24/7 and
this can be truly manifested if the government, especially the executive
branch, act on the end of the “endo” now!
Contractualization is the modern-day social leukemia creeping
at the very veins of our society. There
is great deal of injustice arrogated by the elite and the value of work is adulterated seriously by way of contractualization of labor. But this
reality can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution of yore where work has
been reduced to mere commodity or merchandise, bought by the capitalists at the
cheapest price and can be discarded when no longer needed like a used adult
diaper. It appears that elite globalization or contractualization in
particular, is anchored on this reef. Nonetheless, our work should not be something
external or alien to ourselves.
Joseph, the foster parent of Jesus, is a Jewish carpenter,
ergo, a laborer. Joseph, in nurturing Jesus throughout His years, reminds us
that work is naturally inter-related with the work of the Divine and be given
meaning through faith. Like Joseph’s parenting, work is doing something for someone
else. And in Joseph's case, it is God's.We work not only for ourselves but also for others. We need to honor Joseph and the social class where he belong.
Truly I say to you, Fiesta is a fleeting thing while the
dignity of labor isn’t. So, end "endo" now!
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Photo:
GMA Network
