Condo-style living for Bangras now...

[makapaaa]

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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Condo-style living for FTs now...</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>

Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF noWrap align=right width="1%">From: </TD><TD class=msgFname noWrap width="68%">kojakbt22 <NOBR>

</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">Apr-2 9:46 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 10) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>10728.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Apartment-style living at largest dorm

Residents pose in the compound of Avery Lodge, which has well-appointed units and even an air-conditioned gym. -- ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW
AVERY Lodge is the largest, and quite likely the most well-appointed, workers' dormitory here.
Opened officially yesterday, the dorm brings apartment-style living to foreign workers: Each of the 486 units in it has a large bedroom, a living room, two showers and toilets, and even a kitchen area.
Each unit can house up to 18 workers, and even comes equipped with a cable TV point - workers have to provide their own TV sets, though.
Other features of the dorm, located in Jalan Papan in Jurong Industrial estate, include an air-conditioned gym and sweeping views of Sungei Bajau Kanan.
All this comes at a price: Employers have to pay top-dollar to house their workers there.
At $180 per worker a month, Avery Lodge, which can house 8,000, charges among the highest rates for worker housing in Singapore. An average dorm in a permanent building with a mass kitchen and a common TV room charges about $150 per worker.
But bosses are not baulking at the cost, and the dorm is already 80 per cent occupied.
Mr Kevin Song, director of marine company Jemix engineering, says the payoff for him comes in the form of higher morale and lower medical bills.
He said only 2 to 3 per cent of his 150 workers fall ill each month, compared to 5 to 10 per cent before they moved to Avery Lodge in March.
'They don't fall sick that often, which means medical costs are down and productivity is up,' he said.
Workers gave their new digs the thumbs-up.
Said Mr Hassan Hamid, a shipyard worker from Bangladesh, 32: 'I have lived in three dormitories, and this is the best and cleanest.'
Avery Lodge was built on one of the 11 new sites that have been released by the Government for dormitories since February 2007. The aim was to provide 65,000 new beds by 2010.
Avery Strategic Investments (ASI) is the majority shareholder of the new dormitory.
MELISSA SIM


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[scoobyhoo]

how can we ill-treat the FTs? but, at the same time, please think of those locals who are less fortunate. they are around us, and not transparent. the only thing is they are insignificant and silent.

 

[snrcitizen]

Dormitories for FW's are the responsibility of the employers. Not the gahmen using tax payer's money. On the other hand, the gahmen is asking people to send their old folks to JB.

So to the gahmen, the FW is more important than citizens.

 

[littlefish]

Dormitories for FW's are the responsibility of the employers. Not the gahmen using tax payer's money.

Dormitories for workers should not be anyone's responsibility. It is this practice that is allowing the foreign workers to undercut our local workers. If they want to work in Singapore, they have to pay the prevailing market rent for accommodation. Town councils also have to play their part to impose penalties on landlords who house excessive numbers of tenants on their properties.

Our first mistake was in allowing the government to claim that Singaporeans do not want to do certain jobs and that we need to import huge numbers of foreigners to do the work. If we follow this logic, almost all the jobs (including those of our MPs and Ministers) in Singapore can be done by foreigners at a cheaper cost. They have always been claiming that there is a lack of people willing to join politics, so it is better for the taxpayers to start sourcing for talent from other countries.

 

[snrcitizen]

Dormitories for workers should not be anyone's responsibility. It is this practice that is allowing the foreign workers to undercut our local workers. If they want to work in Singapore, they have to pay the prevailing market rent for accommodation. Town councils also have to play their part to impose penalties on landlords who house excessive numbers of tenants on their properties.

Our first mistake was in allowing the government to claim that Singaporeans do not want to do certain jobs and that we need to import huge numbers of foreigners to do the work. If we follow this logic, almost all the jobs (including those of our MPs and Ministers) in Singapore can be done by foreigners at a cheaper cost. They have always been claiming that there is a lack of people willing to join politics, so it is better for the taxpayers to start sourcing for talent from other countries.

If employers have the responsibility to build the dorms then they will have to foot the cost of building and upkeep (maintenance and property tax). This will mean it is not cheap to employ FWs. As it is, the employers just get as many FW's as they can then sit back expecting the gahmen to build and maintain the dorms with taxpayers' money.

Agree with your other points made.

 

[littlefish]

There are 2 problems with employers providing dormitories for foreign workers.

1) It is difficult to dictate and enforce a minimum acceptable standard of living conditions. There will need to be some government agency set up to take on this task and the taxpayers will have to bear the burden of keeping the agency running (making the employers pay for the agency will result in a conflict of interests).

2) Without minimum standards, it is very easy for employers to provide substandard, low-cost housing for their workers. This distorts the reality of living and working in Singapore and allows the workers to undercut the local workforce.

The only situation in which I find acceptable for employers to provide accommodation for their workers would be if the workplace is in an extremely remote faraway location without any nearby amenities (e.g. offshore oil rig). In tiny Singapore, I can't think of any location that fits this criterion (except maybe Area D). At most, the employers are allowed to provide transport for the workers (has to meet proper standards as well, not the back of pickups) to workplaces that are not reachable by public transport.

Even if there is really a need to house workers near their workplaces, the government should plan for residential areas and transport services near to these locations for the employers to source workers locally from these areas. Basically, it boils down to a greater focus and deeper analysis on why there is a need to import foreigners before even considering providing housing for foreigners.

 

[JohnTT]

These dorms are better than HDB Flats. Poor S'poreans.............. :(

 

[cheekenpie]

If employers have the responsibility to build the dorms then they will have to foot the cost of building and upkeep (maintenance and property tax). This will mean it is not cheap to employ FWs. As it is, the employers just get as many FW's as they can then sit back expecting the gahmen to build and maintain the dorms with taxpayers' money.

Agree with your other points made.

Please la. You want to take over the shovelling of cement?

 

[snrcitizen]

Please la. You want to take over the shovelling of cement?

So you are indeed one of those who would not have second thoughts about sending your parents to JB while you endorse the govt use taxpayers money to build FW dorms in Singapore.

Good for you.