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A WAR of words has erupted between new Potong Pasir MP Sitoh Yih Pin of the People's Action Party (PAP) and the Singapore People's Party (SPP) led by the former Potong Pasir MP, Mr Chiam See Tong.
The tussle is over jobs for 16 members of the Potong Pasir Town Council staff, who were served one month's notice last Friday when the town council was handed over by the outgoing team to the PAP's Mr Sitoh.
The new MP has hired a managing agent, EM Services, to run the town council, and has promised that it will rehire and deploy the 16 to eight other town councils it manages.
The SPP alleges that Mr Sitoh promised Mrs Lina Chiam, wife of Mr Chiam and the party's candidate for Potong Pasir at the recent polls, that he would retain all the town council staff.
According to the SPP, Mr Sitoh told Mrs Chiam shortly after the election results were announced in the early hours of May 8: 'Since you have raised this issue to me personally, I will keep all the staff at the town council. I will honour my words.'
Contacted by The Straits Times yesterday, Mr Sitoh said that was not what he had said.
He agreed that Mrs Chiam had approached him and expressed her concern about the staff and their jobs, but said his reply had been: 'Since you asked, I will try my best to see what I can do.'
The SPP's central executive committee members have signed a two-page letter taking issue with Mr Sitoh's decision to terminate the employment of the 16 staff.
The letter was initiated by SPP second assistant secretary-general Benjamin Pwee and states: 'Terminating (their services) and referring them to reapply to be hired under a different employer - EM Services - is not the same as the promise to keep them.'
It will be submitted to the town council's new general manager today.
The 16 staff used to be hired directly by Mr Chiam, who was MP for Potong Pasir from 1984 until the recent polls.
Last Friday, EM Services handed out job application forms to the 16 staff.
To date, it has received nine application forms back.
The rest of the staff are still considering if they should take up EM Services' offer, which requires a six-month probation.
Said one worker who declined to be named: 'It's no guarantee at all. They can still fire me when the six months are up.'
Meanwhile, the SPP letter also demands that if Mr Sitoh does not give all 16 staff their jobs back, he should offer an appropriate retrenchment or severance package.
The SPP added that a change of management was not fair grounds for termination of employment.
When asked if he will consider offering a severance package, Mr Sitoh said: 'We will be fair. I will follow all the employment rules.'
However, he added that any severance package would have to come from funds of the town council, whose financial health is in need of improvement.
'The town council funds belong to residents. My priority must be to ensure that the service standards delivered to residents are not compromised,' he said.
The tussle is over jobs for 16 members of the Potong Pasir Town Council staff, who were served one month's notice last Friday when the town council was handed over by the outgoing team to the PAP's Mr Sitoh.
The new MP has hired a managing agent, EM Services, to run the town council, and has promised that it will rehire and deploy the 16 to eight other town councils it manages.
The SPP alleges that Mr Sitoh promised Mrs Lina Chiam, wife of Mr Chiam and the party's candidate for Potong Pasir at the recent polls, that he would retain all the town council staff.
According to the SPP, Mr Sitoh told Mrs Chiam shortly after the election results were announced in the early hours of May 8: 'Since you have raised this issue to me personally, I will keep all the staff at the town council. I will honour my words.'
Contacted by The Straits Times yesterday, Mr Sitoh said that was not what he had said.
He agreed that Mrs Chiam had approached him and expressed her concern about the staff and their jobs, but said his reply had been: 'Since you asked, I will try my best to see what I can do.'
The SPP's central executive committee members have signed a two-page letter taking issue with Mr Sitoh's decision to terminate the employment of the 16 staff.
The letter was initiated by SPP second assistant secretary-general Benjamin Pwee and states: 'Terminating (their services) and referring them to reapply to be hired under a different employer - EM Services - is not the same as the promise to keep them.'
It will be submitted to the town council's new general manager today.
The 16 staff used to be hired directly by Mr Chiam, who was MP for Potong Pasir from 1984 until the recent polls.
Last Friday, EM Services handed out job application forms to the 16 staff.
To date, it has received nine application forms back.
The rest of the staff are still considering if they should take up EM Services' offer, which requires a six-month probation.
Said one worker who declined to be named: 'It's no guarantee at all. They can still fire me when the six months are up.'
Meanwhile, the SPP letter also demands that if Mr Sitoh does not give all 16 staff their jobs back, he should offer an appropriate retrenchment or severance package.
The SPP added that a change of management was not fair grounds for termination of employment.
When asked if he will consider offering a severance package, Mr Sitoh said: 'We will be fair. I will follow all the employment rules.'
However, he added that any severance package would have to come from funds of the town council, whose financial health is in need of improvement.
'The town council funds belong to residents. My priority must be to ensure that the service standards delivered to residents are not compromised,' he said.
