TR EMERITUS

I refer to the current debate going on regarding minimum wages in Singapore. Its still a profound mystery why a economic powerhouse country like ours has so much reservation implementing minimum wage policy to better protect its vulnerable  rank and file workers. Most first world countries and even third world countries have minimum wage policy in place so that workers have access to reasonably decent wages when they put in their fair share of work.  I am aware of the dangers that minimum wage implemention can bring especially on the rising cost of businesses  if that particular industry is heavily dependent on human labour. Even Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Mr Lim Boon Heng,  has voiced out against the minimum wage proposal citing business cost as the main factor. He preferred that our low-wage workers relied on the  Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) which is paid out  to  workers that earn below $1700 a month.  Rank and file workers who continue working can have a maximum WIS payout of $2800 a year payable over several periods. This is to encourage our older vulnerable workers to continue working. Since its inception in 2007, over 300,000 workers receive WIS benefits each year. The amount of WIS paid annually exceeds $300 million, which works out to an average of more than $1,000 per worker. For FY2009, a total of $343 million was disbursed to 320,000 workers, or an average of $1,072 per worker (source: MOM). Mr Lim said: “So we started the WIS system a couple of years ago. I think with this system, we should improve…I believe the minimum wage meets the needs of a bygone era, it does not meet the needs of today’s world.” (source: Channelnewsasia 15 Sep 2010).  However, the WIS payout of less than $100 a month to our low-wage workers has not solved a worsening wage gap between higher and lower paid Singaporeans during the the past decade. In fact, wages of our many low-end jobs remain stagnanted for many years, worsened by the influx of foreigners who are willing to take on such work for salaries that many Singaporeans are unable to survive on. The only ones to gain from this cheap labour mayhem can only be the business owners.  In Australia, the  minimum wage is now  at an amazing $15 an hour and  eating out can be obscenely expensive as the food and hospitability sector relies almost entirely on labour to operate. From chefs to waiters to cleaners, everything is labour-intensive but yet most restaurants are packed and people are willing to pay for good food. Staff also multi-tasked as you can see how a waiter also cleans up and acts as  the cashier as well to save cost. No wonder productivity is at an all time here! The same can’t be say of our Singaporean eateries when I can count at least ten foreign staff  of a small restaurant  performing their solo individual duties: manning the cash counter, waiting on tables, ushering in customers, bringing in the food from the kitchen among others.  Minimum Wage Policy Benefits The Rank and File Workers  Personally, I believe that Singapore can implement a hybrid minimum wage system that benefits mainly the low wage workers which account for at least 20% of the population – numbering about 300,000. This group usually does not earn more than $1500 per month. Those belonging to the professional, managerial, engineer and technican (PMET) level should be articulate enough to  negotiate  for better wages with their employers on their own. They can also simply change jobs to get a better pay package as they are educated and professional enough to do so.  The same could not be said for our low wage workers – most are literally at the mercy of their employers due to their low skills set. The cleaners, for example, have being poorly paid all this while and their pathetic pay of around $800 a month never changes throughout the  years. The rank and file workers also face intense competition from younger foreigners who come in on the cheap and  employers naturally prefer them over our older local counterparts. Many rank and file workers remain on the chart of our prolonged unemployed statistics as they have little motivation to find work due to the pathetic salary offered. There were 84,400 unemployed residents in June 2010. About 16,500 of them have been out of work for more than six months (source MOM).  Employers have all along cry out for workers for labour-intensive industries as our locals will not take up such jobs due to the low pay and tough work conditions that such work entails. Our government has relented by allowing such industries to bring in foreign workers by the tens of thousands through the S-Pass work permit quota system with adverse effect as we see how our infrastructure and space have suffered as a result. Many have subsequently became permanent residents (PR) before the government tightens up its PR approval policy.  Implementing a hybrid minimum wage system for our low-wage workers will certainly  inflate the operating cost for business owners who rely heavily on labour to operate its businesses. The construction, manufacturing, hospitality and cleaning industries currently depend alot on cheap foreign manpower to fuel its operation..  Using Technology To Be More Productive  Instead of depending entirely on  labour to run its operation, employers have to also think out of the box to improve the way they operate their businesses. Employers managing cleaning services  now have to think of ways to mechanise its operation and hire one instead of two cleaners to run its operation. The lone local  cleaner will have to be better paid  to perform work meant for two workers or else he will  throw in the towel. He will have to be better equipped technologically to be more efficient in his work place and thus becoming more productive in the process.  We all know how bringing in large groups of foreign workers have affected our productivity especially  the service industry for the past few years. This also inversely affects our tourism sector as many service workers could not speak English well enough to cater to the large contingent of overseas tourists from Europe and the US. By saving cost at the labour front, we have lose out on the lucrative tourism dollars. Penny wise pound foolish perhaps?  Certain labour-intensive industries may be expensive to operate when the minimum wage policy is implemented and such  cost may even be passed down directly to the consumers. A plate of fried rice may now cost $5 instead of the usual $3. Eating out may now be a luxury.  However, we all have choices here and can choose to cook and eat in or eat out. Business owners have to also improve their food quality to justify for the food price increase. More importantly, they have to learn to improve worker productivity to make up for the increase in labour cost.  Minimum Wage Will Lower Long-Term Unemployment  More importantly, when our low-wage jobs are protected by minimum wages, there will be  an improvement on our long termed unemployment rate as the jobless locals  start to take up low end work due to the higher pay structure and better benefits.Currently, our  low-wage long termed unemployed never really  venture out to look for jobs as they could not really survive on the pathetic  salary offered for such menial work.  I always believe that there will  be workers vying for vacant positions  if employers pay them decently enough. If not, business owners that rely mostly on labour to operate will have to close shop. Depending solely on foreign workers to operate will not be feasible in the long run. Instead of increasing the cost of bringing in foreign workers via the S-Pass quota system for business owners, the government should pass on incentives to employers who are willing to employ our local workers.  Our country may also be the only few in the world that relies almost entirely on foreigners to run its construction  and hospitality sectors due to the cost factor. I have yet to also see how cheaper labour in the construction  sector is being translated into affordable  housing for the country. In Australia, the construction industry is manned entirely  by the locals as the pay offered ($2500 upwards) is attractive enough. A new 3-bedroom 1200 sq ft unit in a suburb area costs around A$400,000 – not much different from our own HDB pricing of new flats.  I hope that one day, through the implementation of minimum wage policy, we will see more locals taking up jobs in the construction and hospitality  industries - currently filled  by the cheaper foreign workers. We certainly have the manpower resources to do so but not the paying power yet.     Gilbert Goh  Read More →

PAP minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan was finally brought to his knees by the latest YOG screw-up over wrong signatures being used on 45,000 YOG certificates to the volunteers and athletes. It was a "honest mistake" too many which left Dr Vivian with no choice but to offer a public apology, the first among PAP ministers to do so in the history of Singapore. According to an earlier Straits Times report, the certificates carry sample signatures instead of actual signatures of the chairman of the YOG Organizing Committee Ng Ser Miang and President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Jacques Rogge. In a terse press statement, the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee (SYOGOC) explained: “The sample signatures were used as place holders in the design of the ceriticates which were sent to the printing firm by mistake due to an oversight in the checking process.” Face with relentless public pressure, Dr Vivian "apologized" for the mistake later, but added quickly that it was not a "disaster" to save his own face raising doubts on his sincerity in the apology. Speaking at last night's YOG appreciation dinner, Dr Vivian said: "Now we all make mistakes. But let's put things in perspective. This is a major embarrassment but this is not a disaster.....So on behalf of the organising committee, I say sorry. But I also say, far louder, a big thank you to all of you who made this Games possible." To put things in perspective, the error is only one of the many litany of  comical and regrettable ones which plagued the YOG right from the very beginning, capped by the unfortunate arrest of a YOG critic for criticizing Dr Vivian's handling of the YOG on Facebook which reinforced Singapore's poor international image as a repressive, totalitarian one-party state. Dr Vivian has yet to account for bursting the initial budget by more than three times to a shocking $387 million dollars nor the mass food poisoning outbreak involving 21 YOG volunteers. We await his apology if it ever comes at all.   Related articles: >> Wrong certs issued to YOG volunteers   Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →

WELLINGTON: New Zealand has delayed the departure of its Commonwealth Games athletes due to a long list of problems with accommodation in Delhi, the country's Games chief Mike Stanley said Thursday. "It's tremendously disappointing. The long list of outstanding issues has made it clear the village will now not be ready for New Zealand athletes to move in as planned," Stanley said in a statement. Meanwhile, New Zealand may keep its Commonwealth Games team penned up in Singapore, a report said Thursday. The first New Zealand athletes are due to arrive in India over the weekend but officials in Delhi are scrambling to deal with complaints of filthy housing, security fears and structural concerns sparked by a bridge collapse. The New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) is looking at using Singapore as a "holding pen" for its athletes if conditions in Delhi do not improve significantly, the Dominion Post reported. "Singapore is certainly a possibility," an NZOC spokeswoman told the newspaper. "We have operations people looking at ways to manage the flow of athletes to Delhi, whilst also monitoring progress at the village." The newspaper said Singapore, which recently hosted the Youth Olympics, would have no problem accommodating large numbers of athletes and its training facilities were first class. The city-state is about five and a half hours flying time from New Delhi. New Zealand has already been allocated new accommodation in the athletes village after an NZOC inspection found the original living quarters had leaking toilets, incomplete wiring and were littered with building debris. "The situation is clearly unsettling for athletes and must be urgently resolved. Athletes are our focus right now," chef de mission Dave Currie, who is already in New Delhi, said in a statement. NZOC officials were not immediately available to comment.   Source: Dominion Post  Read More →