- Joined
- Dec 30, 2010
- Messages
- 12,730
- Points
- 113
We are now a first world country and no other first world country has the type of labor laws, weak unions, lack of workers' rights as Singapore so it cannot be argued that Singapore needs to do this to remain competitive when none of our competitors has to do the same ...if our workers have indeed been shouldering the burden of competitiveness and are the true heroes of our economic success, then the lack of benefits for our old workers is even less acceptable and the excessive pay packages of the PAP elites even more appalling. The SMRT PRC bus drivers are the poorest paid bus drivers working in the developed world followed by the Malaysian bus drivers and Singaporean bus drivers in SMRT. Former CEO Saw was the highest paid CEO in SMRT's history.
When she was CEO, SMRT frequently claimed that it was not able to hire Singaporean drivers because Singaporeans are not interest in becoming bus drivers. The truth is the pay for bus drivers is too low and nobody is interested in working a full time and still not able to adequately provide for his family. Saw like many other CEOs, and business owners like Douglas Foo lobbied the govt for cheap foreign labor. Without strong responsible independent unions to represent the interest of workers and level the playing field, their interests were unfairly traded off to benefit CEOs whose main motivation is increasing profits margins to get higher pay packages for themselves.
SMRT's labor problems is not a sudden one-off event. In Aug 2012, before the PRC driver's strike, Singaporean SMRT drivers expressed disappointment NTUC for not being able to fair deal when their work week was extended to 6 days. NTUC accepted the unfavorable proposal and the SMRT drivers were left in despair unable to do anything more about the situation[Link] - their pay was effectively cut even as the cost of living rose. The inability of workers to exercise what are seen else where is basic rights has lead to dire outcomes for our lower middle and low income workers. The result is a large income gap (2nd highest, at times highest) in the developed world.
Hard working people like bus drivers (aka bus captains) see their incomes stagnant or falling to become the lowest paid drivers in the developed world while PAP leaders become the highest paid politicians in the world...says a lot about our system, this is not really meritocracy, people are not rewarded based on how much hard work they put in and contribute to society and the economy...it is where you stand in the unlevel playing field and your ability to influence the system to your advantage that matters. Workers, in particular, low wage workers, whose rights have been taken away and left without a strong independent voice stand on the lowest part of the unlevel playing field unable to climb up ....it is the system and not the lack of effort on their part that resulted in their plight.
Rest of the blog: http://singaporemind.blogspot.sg/2012/12/the-fallacy-of-trading-away-workers.html
When she was CEO, SMRT frequently claimed that it was not able to hire Singaporean drivers because Singaporeans are not interest in becoming bus drivers. The truth is the pay for bus drivers is too low and nobody is interested in working a full time and still not able to adequately provide for his family. Saw like many other CEOs, and business owners like Douglas Foo lobbied the govt for cheap foreign labor. Without strong responsible independent unions to represent the interest of workers and level the playing field, their interests were unfairly traded off to benefit CEOs whose main motivation is increasing profits margins to get higher pay packages for themselves.
SMRT's labor problems is not a sudden one-off event. In Aug 2012, before the PRC driver's strike, Singaporean SMRT drivers expressed disappointment NTUC for not being able to fair deal when their work week was extended to 6 days. NTUC accepted the unfavorable proposal and the SMRT drivers were left in despair unable to do anything more about the situation[Link] - their pay was effectively cut even as the cost of living rose. The inability of workers to exercise what are seen else where is basic rights has lead to dire outcomes for our lower middle and low income workers. The result is a large income gap (2nd highest, at times highest) in the developed world.
Hard working people like bus drivers (aka bus captains) see their incomes stagnant or falling to become the lowest paid drivers in the developed world while PAP leaders become the highest paid politicians in the world...says a lot about our system, this is not really meritocracy, people are not rewarded based on how much hard work they put in and contribute to society and the economy...it is where you stand in the unlevel playing field and your ability to influence the system to your advantage that matters. Workers, in particular, low wage workers, whose rights have been taken away and left without a strong independent voice stand on the lowest part of the unlevel playing field unable to climb up ....it is the system and not the lack of effort on their part that resulted in their plight.
Rest of the blog: http://singaporemind.blogspot.sg/2012/12/the-fallacy-of-trading-away-workers.html
