Lim Sweee Say: Minimum wage, Singapore style

[Leepotism]

Singapore's model of minimum wage taking shape: Lim Swee
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SINGAPORE: With on-going calls for
Singapore to have a minimum wage concept, the labour movement believes the
Republic's own model of minimum wage is taking shape.

Speaking during the
Budget debate in Parliament on Wednesday, NTUC secretary-general Lim Swee Say
said the Singapore model is made up of three components.

The first
component is the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) for all workers earning below
$1,900.

Hence, WIS is a way of topping up the salaries of these
workers.

The second is the Workfare Training Support (WTS) scheme where
low-wage workers' skills are upgraded quickly.

The third component is the
labour movement's progressive wage system where four factors are pulled together
to improve the workers' well-being.

These are skills, productivity,
career path and the workers' wages.

"With the WIS, WTS and Progressive
Wage Model, we believe we now have a minimum wage model. In fact, it's more than
a minimum wage model whereby we can maximise the upside of low-wage workers and
at the same time minimise the downside," said Mr Lim.

 

[kingrant]

Always find it hard to understand what he is saying. Must be my English.

Can someone pls explain.

we can maximise the upside of low-wage workers and
at the same time minimise the downside," said Mr Lim.

 

[Leepotism]

Knn, because of him I have to search for the true meaning of upside and downside but they still don't make sense. up·side /ˈəpˌsīd/

[TABLE="class: vk_txt ts"]
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Noun
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1. The positive aspect of something.
2. An upward movement of stock prices.

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[Leepotism]

down·side /ˈdounˌsīd/

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1. The negative aspect of something, esp. something regarded as in general good or desirable.
2. A downward movement of share prices: "reduce the downside risk by using futures and options".

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[zeddy]

we can maximise the upside of low-wage workers and
at the same time minimise the downside," said Mr Lim.

At this moment of time, some chap in NTUC is busy penning a musical lyrics about Upside and Downside..

And the singer of this new song will be Zorro Lim..

 

[halsey02]

Always find it hard to understand what he is saying. Must be my English.

Can someone pls explain.

He, "Chinese helicopter", so, you must think in Chinese to understand. But the Ah Neh will understand, " you leave the prata on one side, then, you flip the other side", so that the upside & the downside will be fried. ( just like the 60% who voted) & while you are doing that, you must sing :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTMMRrxx-Ug

Then, you will understand, what he is saying...his "England very chim"...

 

[Glaringly]

The first
component is the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) for all workers earning below
$1,900.

Hence, WIS is a way of topping up the salaries of these
workers.

The second is the Workfare Training Support (WTS) scheme where
low-wage workers' skills are upgraded quickly.

The third component is the
labour movement's progressive wage system where four factors are pulled together
to improve the workers' well-being.

These are skills, productivity,
career path and the workers' wages.

"With the WIS, WTS and Progressive
Wage Model, we believe we now have a minimum wage model. In fact, it's more than
a minimum wage model whereby we can maximise the upside of low-wage workers and
at the same time minimise the downside," said Mr Lim.

I try to explain in layman term.

First (WIS), when you are hungry and have nothing to eat, we give you a magic pill to ease your hunger.

Second (WTS). We will teach you how you can learn to cope with your hunger by practicing control to condition your body to ease your pain.

Third. And while you are dying of hunger, we tell you in heaven and hell what you must do to prepare yourself.

 

[songsongpunggol]

how many forms must fill up before getting WIS?

how many blue collor workers knows how to fill the form?

why make it all so troublesome?

and make it like people are getting welfare like dat.

i am surprised this is done by a political party who believed welfare is a dirty word.

give them minimum wage lah. at least it is the law.

nahbray some MIWs has min wage of millions of dollars.

singaporean workers can't even get a minimum wage of few thousands pityful dollars.

 

[Asterix]

Minimum wage was implemented 2 years ago in Hong Kong. Nothing terrible has happened after that. In fact, the HK economy is humming along just fine. Since these Sinkie Party Minions are paid much, much better than their equivalents in HK, then they should be able to do better for Sinkie workers who elected them not worst. Of course, the Hongkies did not have minimum wage handed to them on a platter. They had to fight for it. So, question is, are Sinkies willing to fight for it and whatever else they want to get?

[video=youtube;ycH9yMb1ams]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycH9yMb1ams[/video]

 

[laksaboy]

The PAP and its cronies know: minimum wage = less money going into their own pockets.

It has nothing to do with keeping Singapore competitive, and it has everything to do with maintaining their self-interests.

Singapore is a plutocratic city-state run by fascist bourgeois oligarchs. It is only a republic in name. Fact.

 

[Brightkid]

I am confused by all these terms...WIS, WTS..........etc, etc.

Are these guaranteed to be paid out to the workers or these low wage workers has to depend on their employers to apply and jutify to the ministries to get them for the workers?

Wonder how many of these low wage workers gets it, as compared to the guaranteed minimal wage policy?

If wages are still being depressd by cheap FTs, what difference does it make to citizen low wage workers?

 

[halsey02]

I try to explain in layman term.

First (WIS), when you are hungry and have nothing to eat, we give you a magic pill to ease your hunger.

Second (WTS). We will teach you how you can learn to cope with your hunger by practicing control to condition your body to ease your pain.

Third. And while you are dying of hunger, we tell you in heaven and hell what you must do to prepare yourself.

Third..while you are dying, they will be teaching you birth control....

 

[pyshock]

This union chief is special. He never fights for the workers' rights and
talks out of his backside!

 

[Confuseous]

Always find it hard to understand what he is saying. Must be my English.

Can someone pls explain.

You are not alone - take a look at my signature below - it was the crap that he mouthed in parliament yesterday.
This Shit Say is supposed to be some govt scholar who spent our money in the UK for a few years.
This clown is a minister in the PM's office, no less.
Now, tell me, do you think he can even get 20% of his current salary in the private sector?

 

[jw5]

They should claw back a part of his past salary everytime he opens his mouth.
At least that should spare us his drivel till his impending retirement in 2016.

 

[Confuseous]

Inspiring great confidence in the union

Every good party needs a clown to provide the laughs, and it was Zorro Lim (not his real name) on the PAP roster yesterday.

At the Budget debate, NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say rejected renewed calls by several MPs, including Inderjit Singh and NMP Lawrence Lien, for a minimum wage system. Instead of speaking up for the workers that he is supposed to represent, he is strangely the one voicing the objection, even if we know all along that the government is never keen on the idea.

This must be an absolute one of a kind. Nowhere in the world will you ever find another union chief who argues against higher wages for workers.

As mentioned in the above linked report, more than 90 per cent of countries have some sort of minimum wage. But Zorro thinks we have a system better than all these countries. Instead of a straightforward policy, he prefers convoluted wage supplement systems that go by indistinguishable acronyms like WIS, WTS, WTF, etc.

“With the WIS, WTS and Progressive Wage Model, we believe we now have a minimum wage model. In fact, it’s more than a minimum wage model whereby we can maximise the upside of low-wage workers and at the same time minimise the downside,” was what he said.

If you can’t convince them, confuse them — as what Zorro did here with this laughable smoke bomb he has thrown. He must have left the MPs still scratching their heads at the end of the session as nobody could possibly grasp what he’s on about.

A list of countries with minimum wage on Wikipedia shows that even in countries that don’t have a national minimum wage, there are minimum levels set by collective bargaining agreements. The NTUC, on the other hand, is as reluctant as the stingiest employers when it comes to recommending wage increments. Zorro will be proud that he is in the company of a very select group of countries consisting of the likes of Somalia, Tonga and Yemen.

Without a doubt, there are pros and cons to having a minimum wage, and it is an endless debate that even economists can’t agree on. But when the majority of countries, especially all the first world countries, have such a policy, one would think that there must be more right than wrong with it.

The bigger problem in Singapore, however, is not this debate on the merits of a minimum wage itself. The problem is the role of the union and these so-called Labour MPs, as how the mainstream papers describe the likes of Zorro and MP Zainal Sapari who are involved in the union. It is a term that gives them way too much credit.
Over the past two weeks, netizens have lambasted leaders of business and restaurant groups for their lobbying against the tightening of foreign worker supply. Even if we criticise them for engaging in their usual scare tactics, we must realise that they are doing this to protect the interest of their members.

Similarly, it is normal for MPs and NMPs to speak up for the different groups they represent, whether in an official or unofficial capacity. For example, MP Halimah Yacob touched on Malay issues before she became Speaker of Parliament, while NMP Janice Koh speaks for the arts scene. Yesterday, NMP Tan Su Shan warned against excessive curbing of talent flow, which is not surprising given her private sector role as a DBS Group Head. Everyone plays his part to ensure balanced representation in parliament.

Everyone except our union chief.

And that is why we have problems of suppressed wage levels and an increasing income gap. On one side, we have business groups and pro-business MPs lobbying for the SMEs, but on the other side, there is no one to fight for the workers. It is as lopsided as it gets.

Of course, we know the government wants the union in check, and Zorro is there to do just that. But is it too much to ask that he speaks up for workers once in a while? Can he at least pretend he has their interest at heart?


The post A one-of-a-kind union that rejects minimum wage appeared first on The Void Decker.
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