Serious [ Singapore News ] Why Singapore Hawker Centre Food More & More Expensive : Hawker Centre Insider Says NTUC Management Bully Hawkers

[grandtour]

facebook.com/garyho.sg/posts/10156090027077266


Gary Ho

For those of you who know me well, you know how much I love Old Airport Road Hawker Centre! I take all my foreign friends there and to Kereta Ayer Market.

When I went there yesterday, one of the hawkers I know very well was lamenting to me how recent changes are going to kill the hawker centre. So, apparently NTUC took over the management of the hawker centre and they were all made to sign ridiculous legal documents in English without a translator informing them what they were signing. When they asked what was the content, the "ang kong kia" said "nothing much lah" and to "just sign". The hawker told me it is like NTUC hired a bunch of debt collectors to visit them.

How can you make hawkers sign a legal document with no translation provided???

The Hawker also mentioned to me that they were made to buy mandatory insurance of $100+ per annum which covers the public areas outside their stall.

Why are they made to insure the hawker centre??

Then their monthly cleaning costs rose to $500+ from $300+. This hawker has been there since I was a kid. They have seen it rise from $4 to $80 to $100+ to $300+ last round and now $500+. Stalls that sell mainly takeaway items and have nothing to wash are also charged the same rate now whereas the previous contractor voluntarily gave them a slight discount since they used less resources. When asked if NTUC could continue to give them a discount, silence....

I know costs have risen but is this profiteering? If the previous contractor could do it at $300+, why the almost doubling of charges?

The Hawker also told me they are super grateful to Seetoh for bringing everything up because when they mentioned it to their MP, silence....
Their MP was even there at the meeting when all the ridiculous changes were brought up and said nothing.

Yo, MP, you were voted to represent the people not to keep silent!

I really got upset when I was told they now need to report their movement to the contractor or face punishments. So this hawker was told they need to inform NTUC whenever they are closing to take leave. When the hawker informed them, they asked the hawker is anyone manning the stall? The hawker replied yes, then they said no need to inform. So they were like, must report also you say, no need to report also you say.

The new contract they signed also mandates that they must stay open for super long hours. The old hawkers protested to this and are not complying. They said if they force them to open, they might as well close and retire. Their point is very valid. They said why open when there is no one coming? People who make these rules should consult the hawkers since they have been there for ages and know their operating environment well.

Hawkers are indepent operators. Since when are they now working for NTUC and since when has NTUC become their boss??? Also, how does forcing elderly hawkers into working long hours make things any better?

Seriously, you talk about hawker centres being important, (AND THEY ARE!) but you are doing everything possible to make hawkers lives more difficult. Soon there will be no more hawkers left and all the delicious cheap food will go with them.

Something is really wrong somewhere. I decided to write this long post so that you guys are aware of what is happening and know that the reports coming in fast and furious about these so called social enterprises are not fake news. We'd better go and eat there before they all leave.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

This is a good example of rent seeking behaviour. The hawker centre mgr do fuck all but lord over the hawkers...n squeeze them to get profit. That way things have gotten soo bad.

 

[AhMeng]

As usual, anything that NTUC touches becomes more expensive. Adding a useless non value added coordinator role for them to reap more monies from hawkers and consumers... Lol..Nothing new from this PAP led chenghu

 

[Hypocrite-The]

As usual, anything that NTUC touches becomes more expensive. Adding a useless non value added coordinator role for them to reap more monies from hawkers and consumers... Lol..Nothing new from this PAP led chenghu

Its rent seeking behaviour to enrich it's cronies

 

[halsey02]

Ask the hawkers, whom did they voted for???? you wished for a devil, you live with one & live a hard life for the sins you have committed...should not complain, you get, what you wished for..just pay & shut up...it is still affordable.

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

Singapore is well known for a few things

- ripping off businesses with ridiculous rentals (sure free market.... but this created an influx of the same bunch of shops everywhere u go! when's the last time u see a bookstore in a shopping mall?! Last time vivo got a big bookstore, now taken up by some fucking candy shop!)

- no consumer rights. lemon law is a joke. has anyone tried returning a product based on this shit law? Every retailer can refuse to refund or allow exchange if they like!

- no powerful labor unions. retrenching ppl is as easy as wiping one's ass after shitting!

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/lessons-from-the-surbana-sackings-saga

Lessons from the Surbana sackings saga
Toh Yong Chuan Manpower Correspondent
PUBLISHED
FEB 10, 2017, 5:00 AM SGT
FACEBOOKTWITTEREMAIL

Reminder that firms are answerable to MOM, new rules for mass firings are positive effects
Surbana Jurong is an award-winning company on many fronts.
Four months ago, the Temasek Holdings-owned infrastructure consultancy snagged a Platinum Award in modelling given out by the Building and Construction Authority.
In a statement, a director in the company attributed the win to the "dedication, strong collaboration and hard work" of staff.
Three months before that, the home-grown company was lauded by the Institution of Engineers for building five of Singapore's top 50 engineering feats such as Jurong Island and Punggol Waterway flats.

Its board is a list of who's who in the corporate sector, and its top management includes a former top civil servant who previously headed two statutory boards.
So, one wonders what led to such an accomplished company being openly rapped this week in Parliament by Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say, who said that it was unacceptable for Surbana to publicly label the 54 employees it recently axed as "poor performers".

This is the short version of, what I call, the Surbana sackings saga.
The Straits Times first reported on the sackings last month, about two weeks before Chinese New Year. The company would not say then how many workers had been axed. It stressed that no one was retrenched but "a small number of poor performers were communicated with and released".

For the rest of the employers in Singapore who watch this saga from the sidelines, the bottom line is clear. Employers have the power to hire and fire, and no employer owes any worker a living. But, it does not hurt for them to treat workers with sensitivity, compassion and dignity, especially when the workers have to be let go.​

Related Story
Surbana chided for publicly labelling laid-off workers as poor performers
A few days later, several local newspapers reported that Surbana chief executive Wong Heang Fine told his staff in a strongly worded e-mail that the company could not allow a small proportion of poor performers to drag down the rest of the organisation. The number of affected workers - 54 - was revealed for the first time.

They represented 0.41 per cent of Surbana's 13,000-strong global workforce and 0.79 per cent of its roughly 3,000 employees here. And 18 were union members.

A day later, the two unions that represent Surbana workers hit back through Facebook.
One union leader challenged the company's assertion that the axed workers were poor performers, saying that eight were either re-employed after they reached retirement age or had their contracts renewed.

Another union leader added: "To sack them just before (the Chinese New Year) is heartless to the extreme."
The sackings got an airing in Parliament this week. Four MPs spoke about the matter.
How did the sacking of these workers become such big news?
There are a number of reasons but here are four.

One, such mass sackings in full public view are rare. Companies that sack poor performers tend to do so in small numbers to stay below the radar.

Two, Surbana is a Temasek Holdings-owned company. The Temasek brand carries cachet and an expectation that the company does things right.
If a Temasek-linked company can treat workers badly and get away with it, it sets a bad example for other employers.

Three, the sackings happened under the unions' watch. It raises a key question: If unions cannot protect their members, what chance do other non-unionised workers have? After all, the majority of workers in Singapore are not union members.

Four, the dismissals came at a time when the economy is slowing and more workers are losing their jobs. The prospect of the sacked workers finding new jobs is dim. The timing also compounds workers' fear that Surbana might have axed them to avoid paying retrenchment benefits.

The drama aside, there is a silver lining to the saga. It is what those in the education circle will call "a teaching moment". There are, at least, three lessons for employers.
One, no one can escape Ministry of Manpower (MOM) scrutiny.

The MOM has made it clear that a big name like Surbana can be called to account for its actions and even chided in public.
Said Mr Lim: "Whether GLC (government-linked company), MNC (multinational company), large local enterprises or, for that matter, public service… we do expect all of them to conduct HR (human resources) practices in a responsible and progressive manner."

Two, tripartite guidelines are now being drafted for mass terminations, in addition to the existing guidelines that cover mass retrenchments. This will allay workers' fears of employers who disguise retrenchments as sackings to avoid paying workers retrenchment benefits. It will also deter employers from even thinking about such a move.
Three, employers should think carefully before they slap the "poor performer" label on their staff.

"If the performance of employees is not up to mark, there could be contributing factors on the part of employers as well," Mr Lim noted.
The public airing of the sackings must have caused red faces among the head honchos in Surbana. To the company's credit, it conceded subsequently that the dismissal of the workers could have been managed better.

While the Surbana sackings may not be a case of a company trying to avoid paying retrenchment benefits by sacking workers, the unions and Surbana have nonetheless reached a settlement for the workers which the MOM described as fair. That indicates the interests of the workers were protected, even though the details of the deal were not disclosed.

This is an important outcome because whether it was a sacking or a retrenchment, the effect is the same for the workers - they lost their jobs.
And, for the rest of the employers in Singapore who watch this saga from the sidelines, the bottom line is clear. Employers have the power to hire and fire, and no employer owes any worker a living. But, it does not hurt for them to treat workers with sensitivity, compassion and dignity, especially when the workers have to be let go.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 10, 2017, with the headline 'Lessons from the Surbana sackings saga'. Print Edition | Subscribe

 

[JohnTan]

How can you make hawkers sign a legal document with no translation provided???

The hawkers should have consulted me. I'm the best translator around.

 

[hofmann]

this spin off of hawker centers by the NEA will be another failed attempt at privatization, just like the MRT and Bus fiasco.

why can't hawker centers just remain under the mandate of the NEA like before?? is managing hawker centers beneath the mandate of a minister??

 

[shittypore]

Got to fatten tos cronies bank account, who's going to do the paying?

 

[winnipegjets]

The hawkers should have consulted me. I'm the best translator around.

And we all know that you will do your master's bidding. You are the mother of all dogs.

 

[winnipegjets]

It is time HDB resume their role as estate, including hawker centres, managers.

Alternative, hawkers be allowed to ply their trade on the streets. They are selling street food after all. Hawkering is supposed to be easiest path to entrepreneurship and survival. Then the PAP put in all kinds of rules and regulations that at the end of the day, one has to have tens of thousands to be a hawker.
The PAP has robbed sinkee an affordable path to climb the economic ladder.

 

[no_faith]

This is an important outcome because whether it was a sacking or a retrenchment, the effect is the same for the workers - they lost their jobs.
And, for the rest of the employers in Singapore who watch this saga from the sidelines, the bottom line is clear. Employers have the power to hire and fire, and no employer owes any worker a living. But, it does not hurt for them to treat workers with sensitivity, compassion and dignity, especially when the workers have to be let go.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 10, 2017, with the headline 'Lessons from the Surbana sackings saga'. Print Edition | Subscribe

Mr Goh:"lai lai lai say it with me.....retrenchment is good for singapore....."

 

[halsey02]

Once again...why are these people, moaning, groaning, complaining....cum erection...they goes into Ecstasy & vote for the PAP!. You ask for the devil, you got it. Then, live in hell with the devil & enjoy.

If not, make better choices...or make the same choice..PAP

 

[kangaroowoo]

they only know how to make money lor don't care about the hawkers at all

 

[halsey02]

they only know how to make money lor don't care about the hawkers at all

That is why the P A P, stands for Pay And Pay, Poor Also Pay... Puki Also Pay...Ngong Kau, also pay...they asked for them...what do they care about the hawkers..didn't LHL said....nobody will be left behind in the payment!?