11,800 workers in Bicol regularized

By Connie Calipay LEGAZPI CITY --- The regional office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) here noted an increase in the number of contractual workers finally regularized by their private employers in response to the government’s call to end contractualization. A total of 11,800 workers in Bicol gained regular employment from January to September this year, where 6,467 of them were regularized through inspections conducted by the Labor department. On the other hand, the remaining 5,333 were regularized voluntarily by their respective employers. A total of 326 establishments in all provinces of Bicol regularized their workers during the said period. At least 226 of these companies regularized their employees upon visit by the agency’s inspectors, while the remaining 100 establishments voluntarily regularized their own workers. “We want to stop the practice of illegal contractualization by means of promoting voluntary regularization of workers in Bicol as our developmental approach/ strategy in response to government’s call to end contractualization,” Atty. Alvin M. Villamor, DOLE regional director, said. To curb “ENDO” and “contractualization,” an extensive campaign intended to encourage private establishments to implement voluntary regularization scheme in the region has been vigorously conducted by the department. Meanwhile, Villamor also explained the importance of SEnA (Single Entry Approach). “We try to convince also the principals/ employers to regularize workers in their respective establishments who responded in positive way by embracing the advantages of voluntarily regularizing their workers.” SEnA is an administrative approach to provide a speedy, impartial, inexpensive, and accessible settlement procedure for all issues/complaints arising from employer-employee relations to prevent them from ripening into full blown disputes. Under this approach, all labor and employment disputes shall undergo a 30-day mandatory conciliation-mediation process to effect settlement among the contending parties.