5 Sectors Concerned With The SM Contractualization Issue
SM Investments Corporation (SMIC or SM, the mother company) is one of the leading business entities in the Philippines. Henry Sy, owner of the popular empire, is known to even contribute to the value of around 6% of the entire Philippine economy. Now, a business doing so well mustn’t have an issue with providing their employees substantial salaries, wages, and benefits, right? Well as it turns out, that may not exactly be the case. SM has been accused time and time again of practicing contractualization.
When a company practices contractualization, they hire employees for less than 6 months before terminating their contracts. What this does is it never allows these employees to become regular employees entitled to employee benefits meant to be provided by their employers. Without these benefits, they are subjected to injustices such as difficulty saving for their retirement and deprivation of healthcare to name a few.
Another thing to take note of is how this issue does not only affect the employees directly. Contractualization affects their families and communities as well, since these people are their breadwinners. If they fail to provide for their families and communities, it can be assumed that the families and communities will either suffer or struggle significantly.
SM has denied this many times, but there have still been many first-hand accounts from their employees themselves. Many people have come to the aid of these people, and there have already been efforts made to effect change. There are also some people who support SM. Here are 5 sectors in society and their stands on the SM contractualization issue!
Church groups such as the Church-Workers Solidarity (CWS) and the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) have openly criticized SM for denying that they don’t practice contractualization when they get approached by so many young SM contractual employees. They called it SM’s “anti-worker employment scheme.” As a Church group, these two groups need the support from the people in their communities. They will put the people first to secure that support. This can be why they are so vocal about ensuring that the interests of SM’s workers are met. A manifestation of this would be when they called SM out on their lies and exposed that the company is run by greed since they generate so much but at the expense of their workers to whom they barely even pay the minimum wage. They say that SM takes advantage of their workers, and their workers have no choice but to accept it since they really need the jobs anyway.
Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) is a youth group that also called SM out on their contractualization issue. They challenged the company through email to reveal the conditions under which they practice contractualization. It is understandable why they would fight for this issue since a lot of people that “fall victim” to SM’s contractualization are young people new to the workforce. They tried to get the company to budge, however, SM continued to deny their claims. Despite this, they still see SM as the one that started the whole contractualization practice in the Philippines and the young employees as the powerless in this situation with no choice but to accept the conditions their employer dictates for them.
Militant activist groups Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) and Anakpawis Partylist are two groups that are against SM’s contractualization practices as well. They are very vocal and quite radical with their stand, too. These two groups represent the masses, and the masses are the ones who usually end up in contractualized positions such as salespeople and clerks for retailers like SM. They are simply actively protecting themselves from being taken advantage of by such a powerful entity. They disagree with this practice because to them, it oppresses the workers. It is an injustice to them. Again, the employees have no power in this situation and the abide by the company’s ultimate desires and preferences because it is their best option for providing for their families and financing their lives.
In the retail industry, women make up majority of the population of salespeople or sellers. If any retail company exploits their workers, women would be the most affected. Gabriela Women’s Partylist (GWP) is an organization that works for the welfare of the women in the country. Their argument is that the harsh conditions of contractualization can take a serious toll on a woman and her health. According to them, SM’s unreasonably short breaks have caused a lot of their female employees to acquire urinary tract infection (UTI). They are also forced to wear heels all day with hardly any time to rest, causing serious harm to their feet. GWP disagrees with SM because they believe that the employees, especially the female ones, deserve to work under better and more just working conditions. The women experience this in addition to the low pay and the deprivation of employee benefits. However, they continue with their job and continue working because they have no choice.
The last sector is the government. There are two arguments for this sector in particular; the first being that of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) while the second being that of our president, Pres. Duterte. When Pres. Duterte was running for office, one thing he promised to work for was the end of labor contractualization. However, DOLE failed to align themselves with the President’s plans when the Secretary of their department, Secretary Bello, signed Department Order (DO) No. 174 (2017) without ensuring that contractualization would officially end. They failed to implement the appropriate policies that protect low-position, clerical employees from contractualization. To them, SM’s contractualization is “legal contractualization,” therefore, there isn’t anything actually wrong. Whereas the President himself is very against it. Pres. Duterte has made himself very clear with his being against corruption. Contractualization is, in a way, a form of corruption in the business and corporate world. Because SM is so powerful, DOLE is perhaps being careful about the whole situation. They want to protect themselves from what the company will or might do if they give them a hard time. In the President’s case, everyone knows how fearless he is. His goal in office is to eradicate corruption and eradicate contractualization. It doesn’t matter to him who the corporation is or how powerful they are. There is contestation present between the two since their beliefs and ideologies clash, and they are both law-enforcing or law-implementing entities. Both entities are exercising their power but since the President has authority that comes into play, DOLE is compelled to accept reconsideration of the issue and make extra efforts to ensure anti-contractualization policies are implemented efficiently even if the order had already been signed.
Although this isn’t a headlining issue that a lot of people are aware even exists, SM’s contractualization is still being discussed, and the fight to end contractualization in the country is still in pursuit to this day.
http://www.anakpawis.net/2012/04/retail-giant-has-no-regard-for-human-and-natural-resources%E2%80%9Csm-and-henry-sy-also-under-fire-for-contractualization-policy%E2%80%9D-anakpawis/
http://bulatlat.com/main/2017/10/13/sectors-unite-nationwide-protest-vs-sm-contractualization/
http://business.inquirer.net/110413/philippines-elite-swallow-countrys-new-wealth
http://www.cbcpnews.com/cbcpnews/?p=76618
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/575909/duterte-urges-endo-workers-to-complain-via-gov-t-hotlines/story/
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/money/companies/584636/youth-group-calls-on-sm-to-reveal-number-of-contractual-employees/story/
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/893227/contractualization-problem-persists-despite-new-labor-dept-order
https://www.rappler.com/nation/148400-end-contractualization-duterte-100-days
https://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/164921-endo-contractualization-alive-dole-department-order
http://www.remate.ph/2012/04/militanteng-grupo-nagprotesta-vs-sm-contractualization/
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