THE LABOR DEPARTMENT said over 400,000 contractual workers were converted to regular employment status this year, including more than half voluntarily regularized by their employers.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said that as of Dec. 3, it recorded 411,449 contractual workers regularized by their respective employers.
DoLE Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III told reporters that the number of conversions to regular status is 鈥渦nprecedented鈥 and backed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte鈥檚 determination to minimize labor-only contracting.
He said however that millions more workers remain under contractual arrangements that deny them a path to permanent employment status.
鈥淚n fairness to the employers, they responded favorably. That鈥檚 why 65% of the employers complied voluntarily. They did not wait for a compliance order,鈥 he said.
Mr. Bello said among the 411,449 are 11,660 contractual workers from the SM Group, which in May promised to voluntarily convert contractual workers to regular status, Mr. Bello said.
SM has not issued a comment on Mr. Bello鈥檚 latest announcement.
DoLE also said it inspected thousands of establishments in 2018. In May, the department released a list of 3,377 establishments suspected of being engaged in labor-only contracting.
DoLE鈥檚 labor inspections have been halted for this month and will resume on Jan. 15. — Gillian M. Cortez
