TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent The Singapore media has imposed  a complete news blackout on the economic forum hosted by the Singapore Democratic Party yesterday. Instead, the Straits Times ran an article on the spat between SDP's Secretary-General Dr Chee Soon Juan and opposition leader Mr Chiam See Tong which purportedly happened 17 years ago. Mr Chiam was the former Secretary-General of SDP and left the party under acrimonious circumstances in 1993. During the public forum held yesterday, SDP leaders took turns to address the economic concerns of Singaporeans such as the issue of foreign workers, income inequality and falling productivity. SDP's Assistant Secretary John Tan also spoke at length of the problem of the "non-transparency and the non-accountability of the GIC and Temasek." He proposed prohibiting government leaders and their from assuming positions of control at the two corporations and presented the Norwegian model of managing a sovereign wealth fund which is well-managed, transparent and democratic. GIC and Temasek have under intense public scrutiny of late for losing billions of dollars of the nation's reserves in failed overseas investments. There is no opposition in Parliament to hold the ruling party accountable. Neither are there any Singaporeans who dare to criticize their leaders publicly out of fear of be sued for defamation. Dr Chee ended the forum by reminding the audience that the "SDP's plan was not a populist one where everything is provided for free by the state and that citizens had to shoulder their share of financial responsibility in order that the system is not unduly burdened by debt." Read more about the forum here.   EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent The pro-foreigner PAP government will be allocating more space "for up to three more foreign schools to meet the schooling needs of the growing expatriate community," the Straits Times reported today. They will be occupying site of former schools as well as empty sites in Bukit Batok, Punggol and Yishun. There are nearly 100,000 foreign students enrolled in government and private schools in Singapore. The popular international schools are almost always full and have long waiting lists. Foreigners (PRs) are also allowed to compete directly with Singaporeans in ballotting for primary school places though the rules are "tweaked" lately to give children of citizens an extra ballot. When interviewed, PAP MP Josephine Teo who is one of the staunchest advocate for foreigners in Parliament told the Straits Times: "It will be a matter of time before the additional places may not be enough and we will need to review the situation." Due to the PAP's liberal immigration and pro-foreigner policies, foreigners now make up 36 percent of Singapore's population, up from 14 percent in 1990. Of the remaining 64 percent who are citizens, an increasing number are born overseas. With more and more foreigners in Singapore, the demand for places in government schools, especially the reputable ones will surely increase which will nullify the slight advantage Singaporeans will enjoy with the additional ballot. More safeguards should be put in place to ensure that the interests of Singaporeans are protected first. For example, foreigners should not be allowed to compete with locals for places in popular primary schools such as Raffles Primary, Roseyth and Henry Park secondary schools. Only after Singaporeans have taken their pick that leftover slots can be given to foreign students. The elected government of the day owes a duty to the citizens who voted for it first and not to foreigners. While Singapore should continue to keep its doors open to foreigners, extra measures must be taken to ensure that locals do not lose out in the process. Even as the PAP builds more international schools for foreigners, resouces, efforts and time should be invested to ensure that every Singapore student enjoys a quality education here.  Read More →

By Gilbert Goh Many people who were retrenched during the recent recession lamented how badly they were treated after been laid off by their companies. Though retrenchment is generally expected by many people when there is a down turn, more can be done by the authorities to ensure that compensation is paid out when someone is being laid off. A huge majority who were laid off without any severance pay  were even escorted out of their offices by security personnel.  They could not find the time to bid their colleague farewell and left a place which they treated as a second home with sadness and disappointment. Many have worked in their jobs for several years and deserved to be treated better. News of how our women workers who were sacked by errant employers when they got pregnant make us realised that alot more can be done to ensure that workers’ rights are uphold. The government’s advocation of using tripatism as the only way to ensure that the workforce is in syche with the general employment trend remains largely unimpressive. Moreover, the ruling that executives who earned above $2,500  not be represented by unions,  have left a bad taste in many. The professional workers felt unrepresented and left out when they have a labour dispute. Who can they really turn to for redress? A check with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) website revealed the following “Good employment practices and guidelines”:- 1. Recruiting and treating employees fairly and equally, without prejudice or discrimination; 2. Safeguarding employee rights and interests through the: - Provision of acceptable terms and conditions including leave entitlement, welfare, retrenchment benefits, and housing (where applicable), and - Timely payment of wages; Ensuring a safe and healthy workplace so that employees can work safely and more efficiently; 3. Providing channels and opportunities for meaningful communication between management and employees/unions, in order to enhance labour-management relations; 4. Providing opportunities for training and development to improve employee job competency and allow them to advance in their careers; 5. Implementing performance-based wage systems and effective performance management systems that reward employees according to their contributions and performance; 6. Implementing policies and programmes that help employees achieve Work-Life Harmony; and 7.Implementing age-friendly employment practices that promote the employability of older employees. Strangely, employers can easily get away with poor employment practices unless the employee seeks assistance at MOM and there is no gurarantee that he will get adequate redress. Many I heard were also told to seek legal recourse when the case gets complicated. If the employment contract does not specify any payment of retrenchment benefit, the case is also considered a tough one. It is no wonder that employers will mostly left out such benefit in the contract as a way out when necessary. Which company wants to dig from it’s shallow pocket during down time to pay workers that are laid off? This not only hurt the bottom line of the company when times are bad but also jeopardise the jobs of the other remaining workforce. Employers have lost alot of good will when they treat their laid-off staff with  indignity and distaste. People talked and when the economy improves, it is not surprising that such employers will continue to face difficulty attracting talented workers to work for them. Big giant corporations  such as Citibank famous for their hiring and firing practices have proper severance payout facilitites written out in black and white. It is only fair that when a company releases a worker from their payroll, certain compensation is in place to ensure that he is adequately taken care of. A friend who worked for a foreign bank in the forex industry was fortunate enough to be paid the remaining duration of his contract before he was laid off.  As he was in the five-figure monthly salary range, his pay off was substantial enough for him to take a well-deserved rest during the downturn. He later found the similar job in another bank but drawing half the salary he commanded before.  “Got job ok lah,” he told me in jest. Currently, though there is an Employment Act in place, it lacks the bite to tackle the poor employment practices here. It is also a employer market now as employers have a huge pool of unemployed workers to choose from. It is for this reason that many well educated PMETs continue to be rehired at salaries well below their expected pay range. Many also take on jobs that do not commensurate with their expertise meaning that much under-employment is currently going on. An engineer would work as a senior technician for the sake of survival. Under employment is not good for the general well being of any economy as it means that the person is not well utilised by virtue of his skills and expertise.  Moreover, our lax employment labour law has more often than not allow employers to get away with non-payment of severance package. In fact, except for multi national corporations (MNCs), most small and medium enteprises (SME) do not write any severance package into the employment contract.  To rub salt to the wound, it is not compulsory  for companies to pay severance when one is being laid off.  Though the laid off worker can complaint to MOM (Ministry of Manpower), many know that little can be done by way of legislation to make the employer pays. It is for this reason that many retrenched people  told me that they rather bite the bullet and look for another job than waste the time making a fruitless trip to MOM.  Those  companies who give out retrenchment benefits generally provide for a  one month of severance for every year of service limited to fifteen months of payout. I have also heard that some only receive half a month’s severance for every year of service.  Some companies write out such pay out clearly in the employment contract whereas others left them out totally. I have told my friends to look out for such facility in their terms of contract as without a contract proper, they have nothing much to bargain for when they are being laid off during a downturn. Even MOM needs your contract’s terms before they can put out a case for you. Some friends told me  that such severance package helped them alot to tide over the period when they are looking for alternative work. In a severe downturn like the one we have seen last year, a laid-off worker could be out of work for at least 6 months. As our government does not provide for unemployment welfare benefit,  severance pay out will help the unemployed worker to go through a difficult period.  I have heard of how lack of finances have drive many families apart as our bills still need to be paid when  there is no money coming in every month. Many I know resort to borrowing from friends and relatives to make ends meet during that period. It is perhaps for this reason that loansharks make a roaring business during a recession. Knowing that this group of unemployed workers could not borrow from the banks by way of unsecured credit as they do not have a salary slip to back them up,  they prey on their desperation to allow them an “easy” loan.  Normally, they will be able to borrow $5000 maximum but with interest rate as high as 20% monthly, such loan quickly snowballed. In conclusion, I advocate that MOM enforces the ruling that severance package be written into the employment’s terms of contract. It is surprising that employes can get away from not paying compensation when a worker is laid off due to a down turn. It is for this reason  that many foreigners who settle in Singapore decide to run their own businesses.  Without having to abide by the minimum salary ruling and proper  employment regulations,  many businesses find Singapore to be the perfect place to make money in a First World economy. We indeed have third world employment practices in a First World economy.   About the Author: Gilbert Goh blogs at transitioning.org, a support site for the unemployed and retrenched in Singapore. It is a non-profit registered societyproviding counselling and group activities free of charge to Singaporeans who need them. The above article was sent to us for publication and was initially published on Gilbert’s site.   EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans.   The UBS Series: >> Part 1: Singapore has lowest wages and domestic purchasing power among Asian Tigers >> Part 2: Moving towards a Russian standard of living >> Part 3: Why Singaporeans are paupers in a first world economy   Related articles: >> Eight reasons why foreign workers will be preferred over local ones >> Declining wages of Singaporeans and the continued denial by PAP leaders >> Halimah Yacob refutes UBS study findings >> Halimah Yacob: Productivity drive will be derailed if foreign worker challenge not addressed  >> Exposing the six major flaws in the PAP’s immigration policies >> Wong Kan Seng promises to tighten immigration policies >> SM Goh: Foreign workers numbers may still rise >> Malaysian car mechanic applying for Singapore citizenship >> PAP launches Singapore Citizenship Journey to help new citizens integrate >> Compulsory for new citizens to attend “sharing sessions” with grassroots leaders >> Wong Kan Seng urged Singaporeans to be more tolerant of foreign workers >> Tharman: Foreign workers increase income of low-income families >> Sylvia Lim: Pace and influx of foreigners over last few years is wrong >> Amy Khor urges Singaporeans to welcome foreigners >> PAP MP wants more money to be spent to make new citizens feel welcomed in Singapore >> Shanmugam: Foreigners generate jobs for Singaporeans >> Vivian happy there are 4,500 new citizens serving as grassroots leaders >> Cosmetic changes made to immigration policy >> SM Goh: New immigrants needed to make up population shortfall >> PAP ministers hailed contributions of foreigners >> SM Goh expressed support for Zhang Yuanyuan >> State media: citizens have more rights over PRs >> Zhang Yuanyuan got her Singapore PR in only 2 months >> Official reply from government on the Zhang Yuanyuan fiasco >> Singapore PRC PR proclaimed loyalty to China publicly >> PRC resident hung China flag to celebrate its National Day >> PRC student in Singapore wants more scholarships for foreigners >> PRC prostitutes solicit for customers on Singapore’s cyberspace >> ERA: 40 per cent of resale flats buyers are PRs  Read More →