Government workers call for regularization, wage hike

MANILA, Philippines — Public employees have decried the extended employment of job order and contract service workers in government, saying that it prolonged the exploitation of contractual workers.

“It’s no different from renewing an endo (end-of-contract) worker in the private sector for another six months or so. Extending the deadline in the engagement of individual contract of service and job order workers does not address the worsening contractualization in the public sector,” said Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK) president Annie Geron.

“They will continue to live in fear of losing their jobs and failing to support their families. They will continue to be paid subpar wages and excluded from mandatory benefits and social protection,” she added.

Job order and contract service workers cannot exercise their right to freedom of association and collective bargaining as they are not considered government employees under existing laws, Geron noted.

It is not the first time the deadline for the engagement of contractual workers has been extended, she said.

In a 2017 joint circular, new rules governing the hiring of contractual workers until Dec. 31, 2018 were issued by the Civil Service Commission (CSC), the Commission on Audit and the Department of Budget and Management.

It was extended again to Dec. 31, 2020 and Dec. 31, 2022. President Marcos ordered a December 2025 extension.

As a result, Geron said contractual workers have ballooned to 832,812, based on the CSC Inventory of Government Human Resources, as of June 30, 2023.

“We urge President Marcos to address the widespread contractualization and informalization in government and certify as urgent the passage of the Security of Tenure Act for government workers, regularizing entitled job orders and contract of service and prohibiting exploitative contractual work arrangements,” Geron said.

PSLINK is also pushing for a substantial wage hike and an increase in the personnel economic relief allowance (PERA) of government workers.

“We hope that the President will certify as urgent the passage of the Public Services Labor Relations Act, the proposed bill increasing PERA to P6,000 and a fair