NTUC needs government bailout again

Social enterprise to run Bedok Hawker Centre

A hawker centre will be managed by a social enterprise to help keep its food prices affordable after its lease expired earlier this year.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said yesterday that the centre at Block 208B New Upper Changi Road in Bedok will be managed by NTUC Foodfare when it opens next month, replacing a nearby one at Block 207.

The agency will work with NTUC Foodfare to implement a new, not-for-profit management model at first, with the social enterprise expected to "fully manage" the centre from next March.

The NEA said it is confident that NTUC Foodfare can deliver "affordable food and an all-day dining experience to the community", based on its expertise in managing large-scale food operations. The Bedok hawker centre at Block 207 was one of 15 hawker centres where stallholders were on 20-year leases.

Four of the 15 centres' leases ended in May and the rest are set to expire between next year and 2017. The NEA had asked for proposals to manage the four centres on a not-for-profit basis earlier this year. It said the managers, who are essentially master tenants, would be responsible for looking for hawkers to take over vacant stalls, and for food prices and food mix in the centres.

The model means that any operating surplus generated by a centre must be shared among its stakeholders and be used to create "social benefits". It cannot go to the manager's shareholders, the agency said in its Request for Information.

NTUC Foodfare has also been appointed to manage the new Bukit Panjang hawker centre on a not-for-profit basis when it opens next year.

The NEA also said yesterday that it will call a Request for Proposal inviting social enterprises to manage a new hawker centre to be located with Ci Yuan Community Club.

The hawker centre is one of 10 new centres announced by the Government in 2011, and is expected to open in the first half of next year.

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The 'Not-for-Profit' label of NTUC is totally bs. Is NTUC products and services much cheaper than the alternatives? Nope.

So, don't hold your breath that NTUC run hawker centres are going to offer cheaper food. NTUC pay its executives obscene amount of money as it is staffed by many yet-to-be-elected PAP politicians. So it can show low or no profits, thus justifying itself as a 'not-for-profit' even though in practice it is stuffing PAP cronies' pockets.

I called it earlier this year when they issued a report on this matter. And the butch Elim Chew (one of the panel's members) was given media coverage and she's going on about how social enterprises running hawker centres would be such a wonderful thing.

It's just another income opportunity for NTUC and its cronies. Business as usual in SG Inc.

Elim Chew's FB post on this topic
https://www.facebook.com/myhawkercentre/posts/238351769590706

4 hawker centres may be managed by social enterprise or co-operative

By Loi Kar Yee
POSTED: 04 Jan 2014 21:00
URL: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/4-hawker-centres-may-be/943048.html
(link is dead, CNA is too stingy to archive older articles)


The lease for four hawker centres will expire soon and they may be end up being managed by a social enterprise or co-operative. Some hawkers are worried if this management model would result in higher rentals.
SINGAPORE: The lease for four hawker centres will expire soon and they may be end up being managed by a social enterprise or co-operative.

Some hawkers are worried if this management model would result in higher rentals.

The lease of the hawker centre at Block 20 Ghim Moh will end on 31 May.

Tenants there are concerned they may then come under a social enterprise or a co-operative.

But the Ghim Moh Shop & Merchant Association believes a social enterprise may be better, as it can help stabilise rental fees and even set up new by-laws.

Philip Wong from Ghim Moh Shop & Merchant Association said: "The company which supplied us with staff who clear plates disappeared without a word. So that resulted in a shortage of such workers. These companies are not bound by any laws. We also cannot make the hawkers pay for such services. If there's a co-operative to manage such a situation, it would be more structured."

- CNA/xq

My earlier post on this topic.

http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?...asshole-who-started-destroying-hawker-centres

Of course there is no profits when salaries of the upper echelons is sky high.

laksaboy said:

My earlier post on this topic.

http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?...asshole-who-started-destroying-hawker-centres

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Why don't they just let NTUC burn? It's good for nothing. Maybe I will run it. I will charge low rentals for tuckshop prices lol

laksaboy said:

I called it earlier this year when they issued a report on this matter. And the butch Elim Chew (one of the panel's members) was given media coverage and she's going on about how social enterprises running hawker centres would be such a wonderful thing.

It's just another income opportunity for NTUC and its cronies. Business as usual in SG Inc.

Elim Chew's FB post on this topic
https://www.facebook.com/myhawkercentre/posts/238351769590706

Click to expand...

Credit due to you!

How can NTUC top people, management staff and executives earn obscene salary while the organisation herself is not for profit?
Are they profiteering themselves?

Is Fairprice a co-operative or a commercial company??? can anyone educate me?

halsey02 said:

Is Fairprice a co-operative or a commercial company??? can anyone educate me?

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crony run union that isnt. there

greenies said:

How can NTUC top people, management staff and executives earn obscene salary while the organisation herself is not for profit?
Are they profiteering themselves?

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That's why it is non-profit ...the pigs in management eat up the profits to reduce it to near zero for the enterprise. Thus, NTUC is non-profit.

Let's examine how they plan to run the hawker centres and how it claims to be not profit-making from the operations. Granted, they wont be sharing in the profits from the food-selling aspect, as their not-for-profit aspect simply means operating income less expenses must be shared among stakeholders. Therefore, there is room to make money from the operating income and expenses side before arriving at the profit which must be shared and spent on "social benefits"

But it's clear as day the rental they collect will be calculated as an expense for people who run the actual stalls. 2ndly, all food materials and items from fishballs to toothpicks will be mandatory perused from them which will supply to all stalls. So, at the end of the day, whatever little is left as "operating profit" will be shared. They are essentially operating as a landlord and a master franchisor of a "hawker center concept". So, in conclusion 1) they make money from rental 2) they make money from being supplier of every fark thing 3) And when straits times write an article on how they managed to keep food prices low with their managed Hawker centers, they get all the limelight. I wonder who will be the ones to run the actual stalls? And therein is the last frontier which gahment conquered to make money from every aspect of a sinkie's life.

All the above are my conjecture and not proven.

Once again this proves that the government has the interests of Singaporeans at heart.

Leongsam said:

Once again this proves that the government has the interests of Singaporeans at heart.

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Before takeover, char kway teow is $5.00 a plate. After takeover, char kway teow is $5.00 a plate, portion is smaller. How are sinkees benefitting?

winnipegjets said:

Before takeover, char kway teow is $5.00 a plate. After takeover, char kway teow is $5.00 a plate, portion is smaller. How are sinkees benefitting?

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Without the takeover, the price would go up to $6 and the portion would be even smaller still.

Stamdy for frill free gutter oil from your neighborhood store.

rushifa666 said:

crony run union that isnt. there

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That we can know...but the question is, is there licence a co-operative or a private listed company ( companies)?? the benefits & taxation is different.....

Leongsam said:

Without the takeover, the price would go up to $6 and the portion would be even smaller still.

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That's of the government doing. Ridiculously high rental and conservancy charges plus all kinds of restrictions ensure that price keeps going up.
You are a believer in free enterprise ...surely you can support letting the hawkers sell freely. Then rental prices will plunge and your char kway teow becomes $3 per plate with more liao.

winnipegjets said:

That's of the government doing. Ridiculously high rental and conservancy charges plus all kinds of restrictions ensure that price keeps going up.
You are a believer in free enterprise ...surely you can support letting the hawkers sell freely. Then rental prices will plunge and your char kway teow becomes $3 per plate with more liao.

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High rentals are in response to demand.

Rental levels cannot be sustained without having someone willing to pay.