China worker pays $10,000 for S'pore job but gets fired in a day. Now, police reports lodged against S'pore agent
BLAME WHO?
CHINA WORKER: Agent didn't say I must know how to use machine
S'PORE AGENT: Workers lie about experience
By Joyce Lim
January 06, 2008
WHEN you hire a foreign worker, how sure are you that he has the right skills?
Mr Cai Wei Wei holding copies of the reports which he had lodged with the police and the Ministry of Manpower. --Picture: Joyce Lim
At the moment, some companies rely on phone interviews or agency recommendations.
Unfortunately, this can cost you, especially if the agency is not approved by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
A Singapore printing firm found this out the hard way.
Said a spokesman from the company: 'Our company once had a China worker for 21 days and he still couldn't handle the printing machine.'
The spokesman said that when the worker's negligence caused the machine to break down, it cost the company $6,000 to repair it. The worker was dismissed.
The spokesman added that the worker had claimed in a phone interview that he knew how to operate the machine, although he didn't.
The spokesman said: 'I later asked him why he came here. He told me that China agents had told him that the streets of Singapore are filled with gold, which meant that there is a lot of money to be made here.
'I told him it's a learning experience for him and he should go back to tell his friends not to come here unless they have the skills and experience to handle the jobs here.'
COULDN'T OPERATE MACHINES
So when another China national Yao Zhijun had turned up at the same company on 20 Dec 2006, he was fired on the same day as the company realised he could not handle the machines.
Mr Yao claims he was not told by his Singapore agency, which is not approved by MOM, that he must know how to use the machine. (See report above, facing page.)
The Singapore agency boss refunded him $3,150 and sent him back to Fujian, China.
He then asked the agency in China that works with the Singapore agency for a full refund.
Mr Cai Wei Wei, who runs the employment agency in China, told The New Paper that out of the $10,000 that Mr Yao had paid out, $7,250 went to the agency in Singapore.
The Singapore agent returned Mr Yao $3,150.
The balance of the $10,000 payment was refunded to Mr Yao by Mr Cai.
Mr Cai is now in Singapore to get the money back from the agency here.
When he failed to do so, he made a police report against the company, claiming that he has been cheated.
Police spokesman Assistant Superintendent Lim Tung Li confirmed that there were three police reports lodged against the same employment agency over the past one year.
All reports were made by different Chinese nationals.
The MOM website lists 1,845 licensed employment agencies.
Fewer than 500 of these are approved by MOM to recruit work permit holders from China.
The website shows that the Singapore employment agency which has represented Mr Yao is not approved by MOM to recruit Chinese workers.
The Singapore employment agency director who spoke to The New Paper on the condition of anonymity admitted that his firm does not have the approval from MOM to recruit China workers.
But he said that his company is 'linked' to another agency which has the licence to do so.
RECRUITMENT TEDIOUS
The agency director said: 'It's a very expensive and tedious process to recruit China workers.
'We usually put down on paper clearly the requirements of the jobs.
'Sometimes the China workers are too eager to come here to work and hence lie about their work experience.
'In Mr Yao's case, his employer had told me that he had no experience in handling printing machines.
'I didn't have a choice but to send him back.
'I sat down with him and negotiated with him on the refund. He agreed to the amount of $3,150 and signed an acceptance receipt of it.'
The employment agency director said the firm has been operating for about two years.
MOM is investigating the complaints made against the employment agency, its spokesman said.
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Worker borrowed from relatives to pay agency
CHINESE national Yao Zhijun was to be paid $700 a month for his printing machine operator's job here.
It was an attractive offer for MrYao, who was then earning $400 a month in China.
Excited about his new job, MrYao, 32, packed his bags and hopped onto a flight to Singapore on 18 Dec 2006.
He reported for work two days later and was dismissed the next day as he could not operate the machine.
He went back to Fujian, China a week later.
He had borrowed more than $5,000 from his relatives and friends to help pay for the agency fees.
The China agency later refunded him part of the money.
Mr Cai Wei Wei, 40, the China agency boss, said in Mandarin: 'MrYao's wife came to the agency every day to beg me to refund their money.
'I know it is their hard-earned money and they had also borrowed the bulk of it from friends and relatives.
'I don't have the heart to deny them their refund.'