Dictionary

contractualize en · VERB

Etymology

From contractual + -ize.

Meanings

1. To represent, model or formalize an agreement, intent or understanding within a legal framework or contract
   • This approach would contractualize the East's very large numerical advantages in most types of major armaments in the area. 1977, American Foreign Policy Current Documents, page 460:
   • What promises or agreements should the law contractualize (or decontractualize)? For example, should the law contractualize so-called gratuitous or unbargained-for promises—promises that are not supported by consideration? 2011, Hanoch Sheinman, Promises and Agreements: Philosophical Essays, page 35:
   • During the consensus-building stage, the program design unit identifies potential program partners and begins to formalize their role in the project and contractualize their contribution. 2003, Ivo Imparato, Jeff Ruster, Slum Upgrading and Participation: Lessons from Latin America, page 157:
2. To outsource. ▸ To shift from hiring permanent employees to hiring temporary workers, especially those hired on a per-project basis (and thereby avoiding the need to provide legally mandated employee benefits).
   • […] Labor Day is just around the corner, hence, it is timely to examine the current and hot issues affecting the workers’ sector. One such issue concerns the matter of endos, contractuals and contractualized employees. / Endos, contractuals and contractualized employees do not enjoy full security of tenure rights as guaranteed by the Constitution and the Labor Code. 2018 April 26, Art Amansec, “Of endos, ‘contractuals‘ and contractualized employees”, in BusinessMirror:
   • Furthermore, it has been estimated that 20,000 jobs have been contractualized in nine top performing public sector enterprises called Navratnas (Joshi, ibid: 3 ). 2004, Ramgopal Agarwala, Nagesh Kumar, Michelle Riboud, Reforms, Labour Markets, and Social Security in India, page 145:
   • Unceremonious disappearance of Mina's city buses is the latest management scheme aimed to retrench and contractualize workers, according to drivers and conductors of the Mina's Transit Corporation. 2002, Antonio A. Tujan, Globalizing Philippine Mining:
   • Once a factory has contractualized the majority or all of its labor force, resorting to placement agencies is only a matter of time because the of the obvious advantages: there are less disruptions in production because of the turnover, there is less paperwork, and the company has a buffer for imposing work schedules and the like. 2007, Asia-Pacific Research Network. Conference, Jobs & Justice, page 258:
3. To outsource. ▸ To switch from providing public services by the government to contracting service providers in the private sector.
   • The advent of the phrase commercial-in-confidence has indeed sent shivers up the spines of numerous citizen groups and auditors general as moves to contractualize and outsource have gathered pace. 2006, Graeme A. Hodge, Privatization and Market Development, page 112:
   • As the 1980s progressed, it became clear across a variety of jurisdictions that neo-liberal governments were determined to privatize core state assets, contractualizing key functions and responsibilities, and defining the state's role as purchaser of services from a free market of competing providers. 2006, Eugene McLaughlin, The New Policing:
   • The Labour Government elected in 1997 has continued this pattern of contractualizing citizens' relationships with the state, introcuding markets and private sector providers of state services, and it has made choice a centrepiece of its programme. 2007, Amanda Root, Market Citizenship: Experiments in Democracy and Globalization, page 60:

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