The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) raises concerns over the contractualization scheme being implemented by cable television and broadband internet services provider Sky Cable Corporation and the numerous violations of workers’ rights involved in the scheme.

After Sky Cable, citing “severe financial distress,” retrenched half of its workforce in late 2024 and in June 2025, the retrenched workers received invitations to an interview from a third party service provider which dangled the prospect of continuing their service to the company. The service provider claimed that it was endorsed by Sky Cable’s HR department.

The supervisory and rank-and-file unions in the company, which agreed with the retrenchment program, are now protesting Sky Cable’s contractualization scheme, citing its violations of Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Order No. 174-17, which lays down the current guidelines on contractualization.

Sky Cable’s workers are correct in citing provisions of the law against contracting out activities that are (1) directly related to the principal company’s main business, (2) currently being performed by unionized workers, and (3) currently being performed by regular workers.

Sky Cable’s actions indeed show violations of workers’ right to security of tenure. It clearly wants to retain its workers while lowering labor costs. Contractualization is a wholesale violation of workers’ rights – to a living wage, to security of tenure, to forming a union and collectively bargaining, among others.

The Ferdinand Marcos Jr government through the DOLE should intervene in this labor dispute and ensure that companies cannot simply invoke financial difficulties and violate labor rights through mass retrenchment and contractualization. Sky Cable’s finances should be scrutinized closely with a view to protecting its workers’ rights.

The labor dispute in Sky Cable highlights Marcos Jr’s silence and inaction on the issue of contractualization. While his predecessor made a long-running and public spectacle out of his electoral \promise to end contractualization, Marcos Jr is mum on the issue. Contractualization continues to be the norm in workplaces in the country and continues to spread.

As the 2010-2011 labor dispute in flag carrier Philippine Airlines show, Filipino workers have lost many regular, unionized, decent-paying jobs to mass retrenchment and contractualization. The government should ensure that workers’ right to security of tenure is protected and contractualization banned.