Govt will crack down on bosses with language bias
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Taken from The New Paper:
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THE job advertisements made her mad.
Indian housewife R Mages, 32, was looking for a clerical job in the classified ads six months ago.
'Every time, every day, you just go to the admin jobs section and there'll be some ads with Chinese as a requirement.'
Even when she called companies that didn't ask for Mandarin proficiency, she would be told Mandarin speakers were needed.
'We are a multi-cultural society, we should not just be going for one race,' she said.
But is it a race or language issue?
One Indian who can speak some Mandarin said that it helped her in her predominantly Chinese office.
The manufacturing engineer who wanted to only be known as Ms Salma, 28, said: 'There's a wall that's removed. You're more approachable in work situations.'
Speaking the language got her through the door. Making friends was a different matter.
She said: 'On virtue of not being Chinese, of not sharing the same sociological viewpoints, I was still left out.'
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned employers last month not to discriminate against non-Chinese by setting Mandarin as a requirement when it's not needed.
Similarly, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng said recently that if Chinese employers were to discriminate by race, the situation could potentially be a 'time bomb' if the jobless felt marginalised.
When you have many employers advertising for Mandarin speakers, does it make it more difficult for ethnic minorities here?
Madam Halimah Yacob, NTUC assistant secretary-general, 51, said: 'Yes, it does, if speaking Mandarin is not necessary in order to perform the job.
'But we also have to be realistic. Not all failures on the part of a non-Chinese to get a job is because of discrimination...
'Skills and experience are still the predominant factors.'
Guidelines were set in March 1999 by the Ministry of Manpower, National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore National Employers Federation, that job advertisements cannot use race as a criterion.
But Madam Halimah said: 'It is only a guideline and does not have the force of law.
'The other problem is investigations are done quietly and the outcome is not shared with the public.'
The Ministry of Manpower said it received 29 cases of feedback or complaints from job seekers last year.
They were mainly on job advertisements that stipulated proficiency in Mandarin or bilingualism in English and Mandarin as requirements. -
What to do.
They keep harping on China, China, China.
Mandarin, mandarin, mandarin.
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will they really crack down?
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I'd like to ask you people, and especially to anyone from our government reading this:
"Technically, isn't this a form of RACISM?" -
yeah yeah.. quick hunt down on bosses with language bias. i cant even find a job for the holidays.
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Try places like major retailer bahOriginally posted by sinicker:yeah yeah.. quick hunt down on bosses with language bias. i cant even find a job for the holidays.
MAybe u didnt try hD ENUFF 
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Ironically, the same employers who are asking for Mandarin speaking employees, willing to hire ang moh who can't understand Chinese/Mandarin either. What a shame!