Saw on Mr Miyagi's blog - interesting i suppose... thoughts?
When news broke of the SMRT bus dri*vers’ strike last year, the first thought that came to mind was, “Oh no, when are they going to be arrested”?
Even before the MOM made a state*ment about the strike (which tra*di*tional media called “bus dri*vers did not turn up for work”) being ille*gal, I knew the author*i*ties had to detain them under the Trade Unions Act and Trade Dis*putes Act.
The strike is still a polit*i*cal hot potato as many ques*tions regard*ing the wel*fare of the dri*vers and the respon*si*bil*i*ties of the employer (SMRT) are yet to be answered.
Then there was the role of the trade unions. It seems the dri*vers were not union*ized, and were poorly edu*cated and informed about their rights and obligations.
Even if they were, the unions would only have been able to nego*ti*ate on two things — liv*ing con*di*tions and eli*gi*bil*ity of pay adjust*ments. The third issue in the dis*pute — that of the wage dif*fer*ence between dri*vers of other nation*al*i*ties, would have been out of the union’s scope as it was a con*trac*tual issue between the dri*vers (or the dri*vers’ agents) and the SMRT.
Of course, this feeds into the pop*u*lar rum*bling that indus*trial unions and the NTUC are tooth*less orga*ni*za*tions, endem*i*cally inca*pable of fight*ing for work*ers’ rights.
Some*where in there lies the truth that our labour laws have been devel*oped over the last 40 years to offer so much statu*tory pro*tec*tion of employ*ees that many of what peo*ple per*ceive to be the unions’ roles have been usurped.
Try not pay*ing your work*ers’ CPF and salary for a bit and see how quickly the MOM comes down on you. OK, actu*ally, don’t try this at all. It’s all hypo*thet*i*cal and I am not insti*gat*ing any*thing, but lemme tell you, they are swifter than Tay*lor Swift.
It is an ongo*ing thing, and I think there are fur*ther changes afoot come tomor*row and July, when changes to the Employ*ment Act will be made to ben*e*fit a greater spec*trum of workers.
So where does this leave the work*ers’ unions and the NTUC? They are still there to facil*i*tate good work prac*tices, good work con*di*tions, and con*tin*ual improve*ment in skills of workers.
Say if you had a dis*pute with your employer regard*ing over*time pay con*di*tions (like *ahem* when your boss said you were get*ting a pay hike but actu*ally took away over*time and added Sat*ur*day to your work week… just sayin’…). If you had a union, you’d com*plain to your union rep*re*sen*ta*tive, who’d then bring this up with the NTUC if your union was affil*i*ated with the NTUC.
Strength in num*bers comes into play in this instance, and the NTUC will take on your case with all its resources. While there’s a lot of focus on “tri*par*tism” and “col*lec*tive bar*gain*ing”, it has to be noted that there is still room for legal redress — the courts or the MOM can over*turn a col*lec*tive bar*gain*ing agree*ment if it deems it to be unfair to the worker under the law.
Tripartism’s objec*tive in Sin*ga*pore is for a sta*ble labour mar*ket. Strin*gent labour laws and happy work*ers leads to a con*ducive envi*ron*ment for busi*ness, which leads to more jobs. And this is where the inter*est*ing thing I learned hap*pens — a bot*tle*neck occurs when jobs are many and labour is not enough.
When there are not enough work*ers, the MOM has to import (please, those in the F&B busi*ness can chime in here about how hard it is to get local labour), and when the MOM imports too many, wages are sup*pressed and busi*nesses become depen*dent on cheap for*eign labour.
The NTUC then pres*sures the MOM to reduce the imports so work*ers pay can be pro*tected, but has to be mind*ful that the MOM has to pla*cate busi*nesses who are now look*ing at Iskan*dar because it’s nearby, labour and every frikkin’ thing is cheaper and the Malaysian gov*ern*ment is offer*ing tax perks.
OK, I don’t think I have done a good job at describ*ing the not-so-merry-go-round, and I really need Mr Lim Swee Say’s marker pen and paper scrib*blings that describes the del*i*cate bal*ance all par*ties have to strike. But I think at least some of you get the picture.
If you think you can improve your own lot, or your col*leagues’, or the wel*fare of low wage earn*ers, the last things you should do is to kow*peh about how the Gov*ern*ment doesn’t care, rail against the per*ceived foreigner-first out*look, then at the same time com*plain about how there are not enough locals who want to work in your cafe.
I urge all of you, if you are a salaried employee, to empower your*self by check*ing if you have a union for your trade. Even if there isn’t, become a mem*ber of the NTUC. There is a ben*e*fit far greater than any of the spe*cial offers, super*mar*ket vouch*ers and dis*counts we have come to asso*ciate NTUC with.
You’ll give your*self a stronger voice in this tri*par*tite tri*an*gle, and have a say in how things are sup*posed to work.
Want Your Union To Have A Greater Say? Join Them | miyagi.sg
those cheena drivers no one force them to sign on the employment papers. check with water information from the middle people before they cum here. dont cum here then say dont know, dont sign then say dont know.
the malaysia drivers were paid more already very clear lodging not provided.
cheena less becasue lodging providd. as before before they accept the bunks they shodl check if theya re clean. after they live there for months, damaging things and hvin an*lsex wet the bedings say its our fault? they live there they created the mess then its smrt sg fault?
not happy go home. dont try to cum live in our HDB estate to rent. you bring your problems and disgusting ignorant and irrespn=onsible way of life into our heartlands!
dont use the cheena monkey kukubirdflu carriers strike as example for any union rights lah.
that case? was no case in teh first place. they only break record of a strike in sg only. and its not a ecord proud of. only an idiot with strike like that in sg.