Blue-collar workers at international school enjoy higher pay, welfare perks
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
By Radha Basu, Senior Correspondent
IN A large and airy lounge, uniformed men and women chat softly on beige sofas as they tuck into mee goreng, spring rolls and chocolate eclairs.
It's the monthly staff appreciation tea at the Tampines campus of United World College (UWC) South East Asia, an international school, where cleaners, gardeners and security staff get to share coffee and conversation with teachers and executive colleagues from across the school.
Clad in blue T-shirts, the cleaners - dubbed housekeepers - are contract workers provided by cleaning firm Ramky Cleantech Services.
'It would be hard to distinguish a contract worker from a UWC employee,' says the school's director of operations and facilities, Mr Simon Thomas, who wears the same uniform as cleaning staff. 'That's exactly how we want it to be.'
Mr Thomas and the school's head of facilities and services, Ms Dena Lim, know all cleaning staff by name and use the monthly birthday parties and staff appreciation sessions to build bonds with the Ramky staff.
'In many companies, outsourced workers lose their voice entirely,' says Mr Thomas. 'Here, we make it a point to get to know them so that if they face any difficulties, they know they can come to us.'
The rest and recreation lounge, where the party was held earlier this week, is shared by cleaners and executives. Staff can also use the school clinic free of charge if they suffer minor cuts or wounds at work.
But it's not just these trappings of equality that distinguish the school in the way it deals with its blue-collar staff.
Yes, there are parties, food and bonhomie, and a separate welfare fund worth a few thousand dollars set up for outsourced staff.
But there are better-than-average wages and perks too. The starting monthly pay for cleaners is $1,000 for an eight-hour day. Those who operate cleaning machinery such as jet sprays can receive up to $1,500 per month, while supervisors earn more than $1,900. All staff work 51/2 days a week.
About half of the school's 35-strong cleaning force is above 50. Most live in Housing Board flats around the school's Tampines campus.
'When we set up the campus here last year, one of our aims was to recruit locals from the neighbourhood,' says Ms Lim.
Mr Ismail Hassan, 62, is among these workers. Before he answered a newspaper advertisement and got the job last September, the father of a grown-up son earned $800 a month working nine hours at a Tampines condominium.
He had to clean rubbish bins, pick up litter and mop floors. At UWC, he cleans only classrooms. 'The work is less, but I earn more,' he says happily.
Ms Lim, who has been in facilities management for 20 years, also does her best to ensure that workers are not short-changed. There is a clause in the UWC contract that allows the school to receive copies of payslips of outsourced workers to ensure that there are no deductions for items such as uniforms, training or annual leave.
'Workers may not understand or be in a position to fight for their rights,' says Ms Lim. 'So it is our top priority to protect them.'
Saturday, March 31, 2012
SATURDAY SPECIAL REPORT - best practices SGH: Training and bonus among perks
Contracts are awarded based on productivity rather than headcount
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
By Lydia Vasko
AFTER more than 40 years as a mechanic, Mr Ho Chee Peng, 67, was taking home only $600 a month by the time he retired in 2004.
He worked six days a week, from as early as 6am to 9pm every day. 'I had no rest and it was a dirty job,' he says.
Now he works as a cleaner at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), earning $1,350 a month operating the washing machines, cleaning the sheets, towels and mops, and doing minor repairs.
His day starts at 7am and ends at 3.30pm six days a week, which gives him ample time to rest, he says.
The average monthly salary of cleaners at SGH, who are called housekeepers, is $1,150, well above the gross median wage of $960 for cleaners in Singapore, according to the latest 2010 figures.
A cleaner's starting salary at SGH is $1,000 and increases by $30 to $100 a year, depending on skills and experience.
ISS Facilities Services, which supplies SGH with its 300 cleaners, is able to pay them more because SGH does not look for the cheapest contract - it looks for the service provider which can supply the 'most efficient' service.
This is measured by feedback received from patients and staff on service and cleanliness standards, efficient turnaround of discharged beds, response time for urgent cleaning requests and overall staff retention rate.
At SGH, contracts are awarded based on the productivity of cleaners rather than their headcount.
Mr Loh Yong Ho, chief operating officer of SGH, says this is because of the hospital's commitment to finding cleaners who are the best at what they do, and service providers who invest in training their staff in the right use of cleaning equipment and techniques to meet the hospital's high hygiene standards.
Mr Ho is a beneficiary of ISS' many training schemes to improve the skills of cleaners.
He is now attending a 100-hour course sponsored by ISS at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) in IT Skills Certificate in Housekeeping (Healthcare), where he is learning to handle chemicals, clean isolation rooms and toilets. He will get a $50 pay rise upon completion of the course later this year.
'They treat us like family here. If anything happens to us, we can talk with them,' he says of the positive work environment. 'I'll stay here as long as I can work.'
Mr Lou Da Gong, 64, another housekeeper at SGH who cleans the floors, bedrooms and toilets, agrees. 'I like this job. Everyone is nice to me, we have a good relationship,' he says in Mandarin and English.
There are other perks in their contracts: Cleaners receive an annual bonus of a month's salary and are entitled to free medical consultations at government clinics as well as claims of up to $240 per calendar year for medicines and other medical peripherals.
Mr Lou joined SGH in 2001, after a respiratory operation forced him to leave his job as a cook in a Geylang claypot restaurant. He worked there for eight years, earning $1,600 a month.
He first earned $1,000 at SGH and now takes home $1,350 after 10 years, but he doesn't mind the lower pay.
'It was very hot and fast-paced there,' he says of the kitchen. 'This job is more age-appropriate and I like learning new things.'
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
By Lydia Vasko
AFTER more than 40 years as a mechanic, Mr Ho Chee Peng, 67, was taking home only $600 a month by the time he retired in 2004.
He worked six days a week, from as early as 6am to 9pm every day. 'I had no rest and it was a dirty job,' he says.
Now he works as a cleaner at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), earning $1,350 a month operating the washing machines, cleaning the sheets, towels and mops, and doing minor repairs.
His day starts at 7am and ends at 3.30pm six days a week, which gives him ample time to rest, he says.
The average monthly salary of cleaners at SGH, who are called housekeepers, is $1,150, well above the gross median wage of $960 for cleaners in Singapore, according to the latest 2010 figures.
A cleaner's starting salary at SGH is $1,000 and increases by $30 to $100 a year, depending on skills and experience.
ISS Facilities Services, which supplies SGH with its 300 cleaners, is able to pay them more because SGH does not look for the cheapest contract - it looks for the service provider which can supply the 'most efficient' service.
This is measured by feedback received from patients and staff on service and cleanliness standards, efficient turnaround of discharged beds, response time for urgent cleaning requests and overall staff retention rate.
At SGH, contracts are awarded based on the productivity of cleaners rather than their headcount.
Mr Loh Yong Ho, chief operating officer of SGH, says this is because of the hospital's commitment to finding cleaners who are the best at what they do, and service providers who invest in training their staff in the right use of cleaning equipment and techniques to meet the hospital's high hygiene standards.
Mr Ho is a beneficiary of ISS' many training schemes to improve the skills of cleaners.
He is now attending a 100-hour course sponsored by ISS at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) in IT Skills Certificate in Housekeeping (Healthcare), where he is learning to handle chemicals, clean isolation rooms and toilets. He will get a $50 pay rise upon completion of the course later this year.
'They treat us like family here. If anything happens to us, we can talk with them,' he says of the positive work environment. 'I'll stay here as long as I can work.'
Mr Lou Da Gong, 64, another housekeeper at SGH who cleans the floors, bedrooms and toilets, agrees. 'I like this job. Everyone is nice to me, we have a good relationship,' he says in Mandarin and English.
There are other perks in their contracts: Cleaners receive an annual bonus of a month's salary and are entitled to free medical consultations at government clinics as well as claims of up to $240 per calendar year for medicines and other medical peripherals.
Mr Lou joined SGH in 2001, after a respiratory operation forced him to leave his job as a cook in a Geylang claypot restaurant. He worked there for eight years, earning $1,600 a month.
He first earned $1,000 at SGH and now takes home $1,350 after 10 years, but he doesn't mind the lower pay.
'It was very hot and fast-paced there,' he says of the kitchen. 'This job is more age-appropriate and I like learning new things.'
SATURDAY SPECIAL REPORT - Slim pickings for companies
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
WHEN Madam Koh Poh Eng, 59, applied for a job as a cleaner recently, she was thrilled to be offered a monthly salary of $1,180 to work a six-day week.
Her previous job as an aircraft cleaner, which she quit because of ill-health in 2010, paid only $900. She worked longer hours. She had to clean bathrooms. And she had to manoeuvre a heavy vacuum cleaner under the aircraft's seats.
These days, she cleans only coffee tables at a plush bank in Marina Bay Sands and serves tea to its high-end customers.
When she returned to work after nearly two years, she feared she might get a pay cut. Besides, she lacked any formal training in cleaning. 'I never thought I would get nearly $200 more,' says the mother of two grown-up children. 'I feel so lucky.'
It's not quite luck, but labour market dynamics that have led to this happy state of affairs for new entrants like Madam Koh.
The lowest local unemployment rates in 14 years and high foreign worker levies have led to a manpower shortage in the cleaning sector.
Levies for unskilled foreign cleaners on work permit are being increased every six months, from $270 per worker in February last year to $400 in July next year. Currently, any company hiring an unskilled cleaner pays $310 per worker per month.
As a result, cleaning companies are wooing Singaporean new entrants with salaries as high as $1,200 per month.
Yet, many existing Singaporean cleaners, many of whom are older and experienced, are toiling for around $700 to $800 per month.
A cleaner who wanted to be known only as Mr Toh, 70, for instance, has been cleaning three Housing Board blocks for $750 a month. His pay has remained the same since he landed the job in 2006. He has been for a training course, but that did not lead to any increase in salary.
He knows that if he cleans four blocks, he could earn $1,000, but he is not interested. 'It's tiring work in the hot sun. I don't think I can last eight hours,' he says.
His wife has heart problems, and the father of four is worried about escalating health-care costs.
'Prices of everything have gone up these past few years,' he says. 'I am still waiting for my pay to rise.'
Meanwhile, cleaning companies are hunting high and low for staff. When Mr Woon Chiap Chan, country managing director for ISS Services, one of Singapore's largest cleaning service providers with 6,000 workers, advertised in three newspapers for workers this month, only one applicant showed up.
'We were offering starting pay of between $1,000 and $1,200,' says Mr Woon, who has at least 30 vacancies. 'But still no luck.'
Mr Tan Kok Wee from Clean Solutions is also facing a similar predicament. His company, which employs 2,200 workers, has also been advertising in recent months. 'We might get 10 calls, but just one person will eventually turn up,' he says. 'And even if he gets the job, he may not want it.'
The problem, he says, is that cleaning is a 'last-resort' job, says Mr Tan. Older unemployed workers sometimes want to try it out, and very often leave after realising that the effort is 'just not worth it'.
Wooing existing cleaners to do more with a higher salary is not always possible. 'Many have domestic or care-giving responsibilities and don't want to work full-time,' says Mr Tan.
Another reason cleaning companies are finding it hard to attract cleaners is that many work near where they live, and are wary of change.
After working as a cleaner for 31 years, Madam P. Kamala, 57, earns $1,200 as a cleaning supervisor at an HDB block. Her pay, she says, has remained stagnant for nearly a decade. She helps support her divorced daughter and four grandchildren, and would love a higher-paying job, but only if it is in the same neighbourhood.
She works in the same block where she lives and can therefore keep an eye on her four grandchildren when her daughter is away at work.
'After working for so many years, I am hoping for a pay rise,' she says. 'Because of my grandchildren, I really cannot afford to work elsewhere.'
WHEN Madam Koh Poh Eng, 59, applied for a job as a cleaner recently, she was thrilled to be offered a monthly salary of $1,180 to work a six-day week.
Her previous job as an aircraft cleaner, which she quit because of ill-health in 2010, paid only $900. She worked longer hours. She had to clean bathrooms. And she had to manoeuvre a heavy vacuum cleaner under the aircraft's seats.
These days, she cleans only coffee tables at a plush bank in Marina Bay Sands and serves tea to its high-end customers.
When she returned to work after nearly two years, she feared she might get a pay cut. Besides, she lacked any formal training in cleaning. 'I never thought I would get nearly $200 more,' says the mother of two grown-up children. 'I feel so lucky.'
It's not quite luck, but labour market dynamics that have led to this happy state of affairs for new entrants like Madam Koh.
The lowest local unemployment rates in 14 years and high foreign worker levies have led to a manpower shortage in the cleaning sector.
Levies for unskilled foreign cleaners on work permit are being increased every six months, from $270 per worker in February last year to $400 in July next year. Currently, any company hiring an unskilled cleaner pays $310 per worker per month.
As a result, cleaning companies are wooing Singaporean new entrants with salaries as high as $1,200 per month.
Yet, many existing Singaporean cleaners, many of whom are older and experienced, are toiling for around $700 to $800 per month.
A cleaner who wanted to be known only as Mr Toh, 70, for instance, has been cleaning three Housing Board blocks for $750 a month. His pay has remained the same since he landed the job in 2006. He has been for a training course, but that did not lead to any increase in salary.
He knows that if he cleans four blocks, he could earn $1,000, but he is not interested. 'It's tiring work in the hot sun. I don't think I can last eight hours,' he says.
His wife has heart problems, and the father of four is worried about escalating health-care costs.
'Prices of everything have gone up these past few years,' he says. 'I am still waiting for my pay to rise.'
Meanwhile, cleaning companies are hunting high and low for staff. When Mr Woon Chiap Chan, country managing director for ISS Services, one of Singapore's largest cleaning service providers with 6,000 workers, advertised in three newspapers for workers this month, only one applicant showed up.
'We were offering starting pay of between $1,000 and $1,200,' says Mr Woon, who has at least 30 vacancies. 'But still no luck.'
Mr Tan Kok Wee from Clean Solutions is also facing a similar predicament. His company, which employs 2,200 workers, has also been advertising in recent months. 'We might get 10 calls, but just one person will eventually turn up,' he says. 'And even if he gets the job, he may not want it.'
The problem, he says, is that cleaning is a 'last-resort' job, says Mr Tan. Older unemployed workers sometimes want to try it out, and very often leave after realising that the effort is 'just not worth it'.
Wooing existing cleaners to do more with a higher salary is not always possible. 'Many have domestic or care-giving responsibilities and don't want to work full-time,' says Mr Tan.
Another reason cleaning companies are finding it hard to attract cleaners is that many work near where they live, and are wary of change.
After working as a cleaner for 31 years, Madam P. Kamala, 57, earns $1,200 as a cleaning supervisor at an HDB block. Her pay, she says, has remained stagnant for nearly a decade. She helps support her divorced daughter and four grandchildren, and would love a higher-paying job, but only if it is in the same neighbourhood.
She works in the same block where she lives and can therefore keep an eye on her four grandchildren when her daughter is away at work.
'After working for so many years, I am hoping for a pay rise,' she says. 'Because of my grandchildren, I really cannot afford to work elsewhere.'
SATURDAY SPECIAL REPORT - Unionist and MP turns cleaner
Zainal Sapari experiences first-hand the backbreaking duties of lowest-paid workers
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
By Radha Basu, Senior Correspondent
Photo caption: ALL IN A DAY'S WORK: Mr Zainal mopping a void deck (above) and sweeping up fallen leaves on the grass patches around a block. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
IN THE grey half-light of dawn, a middle-aged man charges up a pathway outside a Housing Board block and begins sweeping briskly.
'I cannot afford to be even a minute late,' he mutters as he begins work at 6.30am sharp.
He scrapes up cigarette butts, discarded earbuds, tissue paper and leaves that have fallen overnight into a tin dustpan.
Around 10 minutes later, he makes his way through the grass patches collecting big leaves in black plastic bags.
Mr Zainal Sapari, 47, unionist and Member of Parliament, has taken it upon himself to be a cleaner for a morning, to experience first-hand the arduous duties of Singapore's lowest-paid workers.
The head of the National Trades Union Congress' (NTUC) unit for contract and casual workers also wants to learn whether he can clean an HDB block in two hours, which is what town council cleaners say they need to do in order to earn the recommended $1,000 per month for an eight-hour day.
Clusters of bleary-eyed children waiting for a school bus stare past him. Some early office-goers too shuffle past him.
As Mr Zainal - the fourth of five children of a cleaner and a housewife - works his way to the void deck, he is greeted by a mighty mess.
Someone has spilt the bright pink contents of a McFlurry cup on the floor near the seating area. Coffee and curry also stain the tiles. Crumpled brown paper bags with the golden arches - the McDonald's logo - are strewn around a table. He picks them up wordlessly, then mops up the mess, pointing to an unused rubbish bin less than 3m away.
'I guess we're lucky this is not after a weekend night,' he jokes. 'Or the mess could be even greater.'
After cleaning three trash bins and lining them with fresh plastic bags, he meticulously works his way down from the top floor of the 17-storey block, broom in hand.
He has had practice. As a teenager, Mr Zainal would routinely help his parents wash the kitchen and toilets. During school holidays, he would spend entire afternoons sweeping outside his grandmother's kampung home in Kaki Bukit.
But an HDB block needs greater skills than a kampung lane. Cleaning the drains along the long HDB corridors is the toughest. Some are clogged with leaves from plants that adorn the corridors. He bends down to scratch them out by hand, as beads of sweat dot his face.
'It's hard to mechanise this job,' he says. 'Vacuum cleaners wouldn't work everywhere. Besides, they could be too heavy to lug around.'
Large bags of rubbish discarded near rubbish chutes often slow him down as he picks them up and dumps them in the chute.
As the morning wears on to 8.30am, he picks up pace. It's a battle against the clock.
Despite being quick and efficient - and not pausing for a break - the kampung boy who did cleaning chores growing up, took nearly three hours to clean the block.
Many cleaners, who are older and less fit, take much longer, earning $10 to $13 per block per day, depending on the size of the block.
The town councils said last month that their Singaporean cleaners earn an average of around $1,000 a month working an eight-hour day, up from $750 a month three years ago. They clean three to four blocks a day.
However, Mr Zainal notes that with more than two-thirds of the local town council cleaning force made up of workers aged above 50, some might not have the stamina to do such an arduous job for eight hours.
'So in reality, they might be working five- to six-hour shifts and earning less than $1,000,' says Mr Zainal.
In a hard-hitting speech in Parliament recently, the MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC revealed that a survey of 400 local cleaners conducted by NTUC's unit for contract and casual workers showed that three in four have not had any wage increment over the last three years.
He says the recent government move to make it compulsory for all public sector agencies to give contracts only to accredited companies, which tend to pay better, is good.
But more needs to be done.
When Mr Zainal asked his constituents how much someone should be paid for cleaning an HDB block in two hours, they quoted between $50 and $300. In reality, most town council cleaners get around $10.
'I am not saying that they should be paid $300, but what is undeniable is that they deserve more,' he says.
'And we as a society should be willing to give that to them, even if it means that conservancy charges could go up.'
***
ALL IN A DAY'S WORK: Mr Zainal mopping a void deck and sweeping up fallen leaves on the grass patches around a block. In the void deck, someone has spilt the contents of a McFlurry cup on the floor. Coffee and curry stain the tiles, and crumpled brown paper bags with the golden arches - the McDonald's logo - are strewn around a table. Despite being quick and efficient - and not pausing for a break - the kampung boy who did cleaning chores growing up takes close to three hours to clean a block. Many cleaners, who are older and less fit, take longer. They earn $10 to $13 per block per day.
***
Clean people, or good cleaners?
'I was amazed by how much litter there is for cleaners to clear. This, in a city with a reputation of being clean. Is Singapore clean because Singaporeans have good, clean habits or is it because we have good, hardworking cleaners?'
Mr Zainal Sapari, unionist and Member of Parliament, after spending three hours as a cleaner to experience such workers' gruelling tasks
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
By Radha Basu, Senior Correspondent
IN THE grey half-light of dawn, a middle-aged man charges up a pathway outside a Housing Board block and begins sweeping briskly.
'I cannot afford to be even a minute late,' he mutters as he begins work at 6.30am sharp.
He scrapes up cigarette butts, discarded earbuds, tissue paper and leaves that have fallen overnight into a tin dustpan.
Around 10 minutes later, he makes his way through the grass patches collecting big leaves in black plastic bags.
Mr Zainal Sapari, 47, unionist and Member of Parliament, has taken it upon himself to be a cleaner for a morning, to experience first-hand the arduous duties of Singapore's lowest-paid workers.
The head of the National Trades Union Congress' (NTUC) unit for contract and casual workers also wants to learn whether he can clean an HDB block in two hours, which is what town council cleaners say they need to do in order to earn the recommended $1,000 per month for an eight-hour day.
Clusters of bleary-eyed children waiting for a school bus stare past him. Some early office-goers too shuffle past him.
As Mr Zainal - the fourth of five children of a cleaner and a housewife - works his way to the void deck, he is greeted by a mighty mess.
Someone has spilt the bright pink contents of a McFlurry cup on the floor near the seating area. Coffee and curry also stain the tiles. Crumpled brown paper bags with the golden arches - the McDonald's logo - are strewn around a table. He picks them up wordlessly, then mops up the mess, pointing to an unused rubbish bin less than 3m away.
'I guess we're lucky this is not after a weekend night,' he jokes. 'Or the mess could be even greater.'
After cleaning three trash bins and lining them with fresh plastic bags, he meticulously works his way down from the top floor of the 17-storey block, broom in hand.
He has had practice. As a teenager, Mr Zainal would routinely help his parents wash the kitchen and toilets. During school holidays, he would spend entire afternoons sweeping outside his grandmother's kampung home in Kaki Bukit.
But an HDB block needs greater skills than a kampung lane. Cleaning the drains along the long HDB corridors is the toughest. Some are clogged with leaves from plants that adorn the corridors. He bends down to scratch them out by hand, as beads of sweat dot his face.
'It's hard to mechanise this job,' he says. 'Vacuum cleaners wouldn't work everywhere. Besides, they could be too heavy to lug around.'
Large bags of rubbish discarded near rubbish chutes often slow him down as he picks them up and dumps them in the chute.
As the morning wears on to 8.30am, he picks up pace. It's a battle against the clock.
Despite being quick and efficient - and not pausing for a break - the kampung boy who did cleaning chores growing up, took nearly three hours to clean the block.
Many cleaners, who are older and less fit, take much longer, earning $10 to $13 per block per day, depending on the size of the block.
The town councils said last month that their Singaporean cleaners earn an average of around $1,000 a month working an eight-hour day, up from $750 a month three years ago. They clean three to four blocks a day.
However, Mr Zainal notes that with more than two-thirds of the local town council cleaning force made up of workers aged above 50, some might not have the stamina to do such an arduous job for eight hours.
'So in reality, they might be working five- to six-hour shifts and earning less than $1,000,' says Mr Zainal.
In a hard-hitting speech in Parliament recently, the MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC revealed that a survey of 400 local cleaners conducted by NTUC's unit for contract and casual workers showed that three in four have not had any wage increment over the last three years.
He says the recent government move to make it compulsory for all public sector agencies to give contracts only to accredited companies, which tend to pay better, is good.
But more needs to be done.
When Mr Zainal asked his constituents how much someone should be paid for cleaning an HDB block in two hours, they quoted between $50 and $300. In reality, most town council cleaners get around $10.
'I am not saying that they should be paid $300, but what is undeniable is that they deserve more,' he says.
'And we as a society should be willing to give that to them, even if it means that conservancy charges could go up.'
***
ALL IN A DAY'S WORK: Mr Zainal mopping a void deck and sweeping up fallen leaves on the grass patches around a block. In the void deck, someone has spilt the contents of a McFlurry cup on the floor. Coffee and curry stain the tiles, and crumpled brown paper bags with the golden arches - the McDonald's logo - are strewn around a table. Despite being quick and efficient - and not pausing for a break - the kampung boy who did cleaning chores growing up takes close to three hours to clean a block. Many cleaners, who are older and less fit, take longer. They earn $10 to $13 per block per day.
***
Clean people, or good cleaners?
'I was amazed by how much litter there is for cleaners to clear. This, in a city with a reputation of being clean. Is Singapore clean because Singaporeans have good, clean habits or is it because we have good, hardworking cleaners?'
Mr Zainal Sapari, unionist and Member of Parliament, after spending three hours as a cleaner to experience such workers' gruelling tasks
SATURDAY SPECIAL REPORT - A fine regime
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
Cleaning contracts in Singapore often contain clauses imposing fines that cleaning companies and workers consider harsh and subjective. Here are some examples.
Failure to attend urgent cleaning requests after office hours:
$200 for every 15 minutes' delay
Failure to answer the phone or return text messages:
$100 per incident
Untidy/dirty/improper uniforms worn by staff:
$200 per occasion
Smoking in prohibited areas by staff:
$100 per occasion
Failure to provide 'proper' tools for cleaners:
$150 per day
Any 'misuse' of water or electricity by cleaning staff:
$100 for first offence,
$200 per incident subsequently
Failure to achieve an 80 per cent acceptance rating during checks:
$100 per day or more
Failure to provide the required number of trained workers or supervisors:
$200 per day per person
Failure to replenish toilet rolls, soap, and so on, or clear waste bins:
$100 per day per occasion
Cleaning contracts in Singapore often contain clauses imposing fines that cleaning companies and workers consider harsh and subjective. Here are some examples.
Failure to attend urgent cleaning requests after office hours:
$200 for every 15 minutes' delay
Failure to answer the phone or return text messages:
$100 per incident
Untidy/dirty/improper uniforms worn by staff:
$200 per occasion
Smoking in prohibited areas by staff:
$100 per occasion
Failure to provide 'proper' tools for cleaners:
$150 per day
Any 'misuse' of water or electricity by cleaning staff:
$100 for first offence,
$200 per incident subsequently
Failure to achieve an 80 per cent acceptance rating during checks:
$100 per day or more
Failure to provide the required number of trained workers or supervisors:
$200 per day per person
Failure to replenish toilet rolls, soap, and so on, or clear waste bins:
$100 per day per occasion
SATURDAY SPECIAL REPORT - Residents come first for town councils
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
THE People's Action Party town councils responsible for maintaining cleanliness in a majority of Housing Board blocks say that their cleaning contracts are devised to 'protect the interests of residents'.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, the coordinating secretary of the 14 PAP town councils Albert Teng said there is a reason why these contracts generally offer only unilateral termination clauses - where the town council can terminate a contract but a cleaning company cannot.
Allowing cleaning companies to terminate contracts when they get a 'better deal elsewhere' would 'cause havoc' on the cleanliness of public housing blocks, impacting many lives, he said.
The town councils, on their part, exercise the option to terminate only as a 'last resort', like if the contractor 'fails to perform' or becomes bankrupt, he added.
On cleaning companies' allegations that lengthy contract periods - of five years or more - lock in wages and other terms, Mr Teng said that town council contractors themselves often request for longer contract periods so that they can have a 'longer pay-back period', to allow them to invest in training and mechanisation.
'All conditions such as extension of contract are stipulated at the onset of the tender and are based on mutually agreed terms,' he said.
He also clarified that town councils are already on 'performance-based contracts' and do not impose penalties on contractors if a worker goes on medical leave.
Meanwhile, he added that the town councils are working to improve the pay and skills of their 2,200-strong cleaning workforce.
To date, all town council cleaners who have gone through the requisite training by NTUC Learning Hub, have employment contracts with the conservancy contractors and work eight hours full time should be paid at least $1,000, said Mr Teng.
However, he acknowledged that only one in five works full time.
If the cleaners choose to work fewer than eight hours, they will be paid on a pro-rated basis. Those who are able to work only three hours (to clean/sweep one block) will be paid about $350.
'This flexible working arrangement appeals to many who do not want to work full time,' he said.
Asked whether the town councils actually check whether the cleaners earn the recommended wage, he said that all cleaning contractors are required to submit monthly labour returns indicating the salary paid, CPF contributions and pay slips.
'From these official documents, we are able to tell how much the workers are paid,' he said.
Conservancy contractors are also required to provide written employment contracts to the cleaners, which stipulate the leave entitlement, medical leave, hospitalisation leave and other rights.
Cleaners who did not get proper remuneration or did not have contracts could go to the Ministry of Manpower for assistance, he said.
The town councils are given a copy of the employment contracts, which clearly state the working hours and areas of responsibility and the monthly wages. From the contracts, the town councils are able to ensure workers are paid fairly, he said.
However, when told that The Straits Times had interviewed cleaners who said they had no pay slips or contracts, Mr Teng said that if contractors were found denying these to workers, they could chalk up 'demerit points' and be slapped with liquidated damages or fines.
'They will also risk not having any contracts with all 14 town councils in future,' he said.
RADHA BASU
THE People's Action Party town councils responsible for maintaining cleanliness in a majority of Housing Board blocks say that their cleaning contracts are devised to 'protect the interests of residents'.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, the coordinating secretary of the 14 PAP town councils Albert Teng said there is a reason why these contracts generally offer only unilateral termination clauses - where the town council can terminate a contract but a cleaning company cannot.
Allowing cleaning companies to terminate contracts when they get a 'better deal elsewhere' would 'cause havoc' on the cleanliness of public housing blocks, impacting many lives, he said.
The town councils, on their part, exercise the option to terminate only as a 'last resort', like if the contractor 'fails to perform' or becomes bankrupt, he added.
On cleaning companies' allegations that lengthy contract periods - of five years or more - lock in wages and other terms, Mr Teng said that town council contractors themselves often request for longer contract periods so that they can have a 'longer pay-back period', to allow them to invest in training and mechanisation.
'All conditions such as extension of contract are stipulated at the onset of the tender and are based on mutually agreed terms,' he said.
He also clarified that town councils are already on 'performance-based contracts' and do not impose penalties on contractors if a worker goes on medical leave.
Meanwhile, he added that the town councils are working to improve the pay and skills of their 2,200-strong cleaning workforce.
To date, all town council cleaners who have gone through the requisite training by NTUC Learning Hub, have employment contracts with the conservancy contractors and work eight hours full time should be paid at least $1,000, said Mr Teng.
However, he acknowledged that only one in five works full time.
If the cleaners choose to work fewer than eight hours, they will be paid on a pro-rated basis. Those who are able to work only three hours (to clean/sweep one block) will be paid about $350.
'This flexible working arrangement appeals to many who do not want to work full time,' he said.
Asked whether the town councils actually check whether the cleaners earn the recommended wage, he said that all cleaning contractors are required to submit monthly labour returns indicating the salary paid, CPF contributions and pay slips.
'From these official documents, we are able to tell how much the workers are paid,' he said.
Conservancy contractors are also required to provide written employment contracts to the cleaners, which stipulate the leave entitlement, medical leave, hospitalisation leave and other rights.
Cleaners who did not get proper remuneration or did not have contracts could go to the Ministry of Manpower for assistance, he said.
The town councils are given a copy of the employment contracts, which clearly state the working hours and areas of responsibility and the monthly wages. From the contracts, the town councils are able to ensure workers are paid fairly, he said.
However, when told that The Straits Times had interviewed cleaners who said they had no pay slips or contracts, Mr Teng said that if contractors were found denying these to workers, they could chalk up 'demerit points' and be slapped with liquidated damages or fines.
'They will also risk not having any contracts with all 14 town councils in future,' he said.
RADHA BASU
SATURDAY SPECIAL REPORT - When 'customer is king' backfires
Pest-control and landscaping firms also hit by contract woes
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
By Radha Basu & Candice Neo
UNFAIR contracts have also hit the pest-busting and landscaping industries hard.
When pest-control company boss Deanne Ong, 38, joined the industry in the mid-1990s, pest-controllers earned about $1,900 a month.
Seventeen years on, they earn a gross pay of around $1,700.
Falling contract prices in the pest-control industry have pushed down wages, says Ms Ong, now business development director of Origin Exterminators, one of the 240 pest control firms in Singapore.
In 1995, there were fewer than 50 pest control firms.
While wages started looking up from last year - largely due to a manpower shortage fuelled by rock bottom unemployment rates here and an increase in foreign worker levies - they are still below what they used to be nearly two decades ago, says Ms Ong.
This is because, as with the cleaning industry, pest-control service buyers have the unilateral right to extend or terminate contracts. They also routinely impose fines that can be seen as arbitrary. 'If we don't accept the terms, we just don't stand a chance in this business,' she says.
Contracts also often absolve service buyers of late payment - by as much as six months. In such cases, the pest management company just foots the bill first 'in good faith' and coughs up financing charges.
'This is really difficult as it affects cash flow of the business,' says Ms Ong.
Even if a service provider inserts a clause to protect itself, the customer still gets his way in the end, notes Mr Paul Prasad of Pest Masters.
In a contract with a condominium five years ago, he specified in the contract that his company would not be responsible for mosquito breeding in a certain type of palm tree on the condominium's grounds, as the client wanted the trees checked only once a week, which Pest Masters felt was not enough to prevent the problem.
Sure enough, the palm trees soon started breeding mosquitoes and the client imposed a fine on Pest Masters, despite the covering clause in the contract. Mr Prasad - an industry veteran with 25 years of experience - refused to pay it.
'It was a small amount - $200 - but to me, it was a matter of principle, not money, since I had stated in the clause that we would not be responsible for the mosquito breeding in the palm trees.'
But his client of 12 years had the last laugh - by refusing to renew his contract. 'I was upset, but I had to accept reality. It's unfair, but that's just how it is in business,' he says.
Then there is the problem of ambiguous clauses.
Mr David Santana of Gecko International says that service buyers sometimes put in clauses that say a pest-management firm needs to deal with mosquitoes, termites, rodents, cockroaches 'and other crawling and flying insects'.
'Unless you specify what pests, it will be very difficult for us to put a cost on the contract,' says Mr Santana.
Vice-president of the Singapore Pest Management Association Ng Say Kiat warns contractors to 'be careful' when they read the contractual clauses.
'We advise our members to look at all the fine print to ensure that they don't end up having problems due to ambiguous clauses,' he says.
Such ambiguity in contract clauses has also caused a similar credit squeeze in landscaping companies. There are more than 550 such companies.
One common issue, says ISS Landscaping general manager Jimmy Ng, is that whenever customers' plants are damaged by the public, they expect service providers to take responsibility for it, although this is not stated in the contract. If the additional costs are small, the firm sends workers to clean up the place out of goodwill.
'But we can't do that all the time,' says Mr Ng. 'If it happens, when the company renews the contract, we will state responsibilities more clearly in the clause.'
Grey areas in the performance assessment criteria in landscape maintenance projects have also caused other landscaping companies to cry foul.
A spokesman for a major landscaping company who declined to be named says that some service buyers use a 'subjective' assessment scheme to measure a contractor's performance.
According to the scheme, a contractor is paid the full tendered amount only if the standard of the job is rated at least 80 per cent. A lower rating will lead to a corresponding cut in payment. So for a rating of 78 per cent, for example, payment to the contractor will be cut by 2 per cent. 'This rating is very subjective and depends entirely on the officer doing the assessment,' the spokesman says.
'If they like it, they will give a higher rating, if not, we will be paid less. The quality criteria are not written in black and white, so how is it fair for us?'
Many companies have no choice but to accept such terms in order to survive, she adds.
A survey of five landscaping companies revealed that landscape technicians are generally paid about $1,200 to $1,600 a month. Although most companies surveyed cited an annual salary increment of about 3 per cent to 5 per cent, an industry expert, Mr Jason Sim, says that barely covers inflation, and the real income of the workers has actually remained stagnant in the last five years.
'Service providers tender at such low costs, they can't cover the costs,' he says. 'And the workers are the ones who are hit the hardest.'
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
By Radha Basu & Candice Neo
UNFAIR contracts have also hit the pest-busting and landscaping industries hard.
When pest-control company boss Deanne Ong, 38, joined the industry in the mid-1990s, pest-controllers earned about $1,900 a month.
Seventeen years on, they earn a gross pay of around $1,700.
Falling contract prices in the pest-control industry have pushed down wages, says Ms Ong, now business development director of Origin Exterminators, one of the 240 pest control firms in Singapore.
In 1995, there were fewer than 50 pest control firms.
While wages started looking up from last year - largely due to a manpower shortage fuelled by rock bottom unemployment rates here and an increase in foreign worker levies - they are still below what they used to be nearly two decades ago, says Ms Ong.
This is because, as with the cleaning industry, pest-control service buyers have the unilateral right to extend or terminate contracts. They also routinely impose fines that can be seen as arbitrary. 'If we don't accept the terms, we just don't stand a chance in this business,' she says.
Contracts also often absolve service buyers of late payment - by as much as six months. In such cases, the pest management company just foots the bill first 'in good faith' and coughs up financing charges.
'This is really difficult as it affects cash flow of the business,' says Ms Ong.
Even if a service provider inserts a clause to protect itself, the customer still gets his way in the end, notes Mr Paul Prasad of Pest Masters.
In a contract with a condominium five years ago, he specified in the contract that his company would not be responsible for mosquito breeding in a certain type of palm tree on the condominium's grounds, as the client wanted the trees checked only once a week, which Pest Masters felt was not enough to prevent the problem.
Sure enough, the palm trees soon started breeding mosquitoes and the client imposed a fine on Pest Masters, despite the covering clause in the contract. Mr Prasad - an industry veteran with 25 years of experience - refused to pay it.
'It was a small amount - $200 - but to me, it was a matter of principle, not money, since I had stated in the clause that we would not be responsible for the mosquito breeding in the palm trees.'
But his client of 12 years had the last laugh - by refusing to renew his contract. 'I was upset, but I had to accept reality. It's unfair, but that's just how it is in business,' he says.
Then there is the problem of ambiguous clauses.
Mr David Santana of Gecko International says that service buyers sometimes put in clauses that say a pest-management firm needs to deal with mosquitoes, termites, rodents, cockroaches 'and other crawling and flying insects'.
'Unless you specify what pests, it will be very difficult for us to put a cost on the contract,' says Mr Santana.
Vice-president of the Singapore Pest Management Association Ng Say Kiat warns contractors to 'be careful' when they read the contractual clauses.
'We advise our members to look at all the fine print to ensure that they don't end up having problems due to ambiguous clauses,' he says.
Such ambiguity in contract clauses has also caused a similar credit squeeze in landscaping companies. There are more than 550 such companies.
One common issue, says ISS Landscaping general manager Jimmy Ng, is that whenever customers' plants are damaged by the public, they expect service providers to take responsibility for it, although this is not stated in the contract. If the additional costs are small, the firm sends workers to clean up the place out of goodwill.
'But we can't do that all the time,' says Mr Ng. 'If it happens, when the company renews the contract, we will state responsibilities more clearly in the clause.'
Grey areas in the performance assessment criteria in landscape maintenance projects have also caused other landscaping companies to cry foul.
A spokesman for a major landscaping company who declined to be named says that some service buyers use a 'subjective' assessment scheme to measure a contractor's performance.
According to the scheme, a contractor is paid the full tendered amount only if the standard of the job is rated at least 80 per cent. A lower rating will lead to a corresponding cut in payment. So for a rating of 78 per cent, for example, payment to the contractor will be cut by 2 per cent. 'This rating is very subjective and depends entirely on the officer doing the assessment,' the spokesman says.
'If they like it, they will give a higher rating, if not, we will be paid less. The quality criteria are not written in black and white, so how is it fair for us?'
Many companies have no choice but to accept such terms in order to survive, she adds.
A survey of five landscaping companies revealed that landscape technicians are generally paid about $1,200 to $1,600 a month. Although most companies surveyed cited an annual salary increment of about 3 per cent to 5 per cent, an industry expert, Mr Jason Sim, says that barely covers inflation, and the real income of the workers has actually remained stagnant in the last five years.
'Service providers tender at such low costs, they can't cover the costs,' he says. 'And the workers are the ones who are hit the hardest.'
SATURDAY SPECIAL REPORT - common clauses in one-sided contracts
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
Unilateral right to extend/terminate contract
The right to terminate is often unilateral.
In some cases, the client - or service buyer - can sack the service provider if it 'fails to carry out work to the satisfaction of the client'. In others, the client has the option to terminate the contracts by giving three months' notice in writing 'without giving any reason whatsoever'.
In other contracts, the client has the option to extend the contract for up to three years at the same price and tender specifications.
Some contracts also state that the tenderer's - or the cleaning company's - bid shall remain valid for a period of six months from the closing date of the tender and that the tenderer cannot withdraw its offer during this period, or face paying damages for losses.
Why it's unfair
Unilateral extension of the contract or even the tender period does not allow cleaning companies to account for the cost of changes in government policies, such as if foreign worker levies are increased, thus increasing manpower costs for the companies.
***
Both parties should be given equal opportunities to extend or terminate contracts.
Liquidated damages or fines
A service buyer often has the right to impose fines or 'liquidated damages' (LDs) worth $100 on the cleaning company if a worker misses work, even if another worker doubles up and completes the work. The fines can be avoided only if a substitute worker makes up the total headcount.
Why it's unfair
This is tough in a tight labour market where companies are always short of workers. LDs should be based on performance, not on attendance or headcount.
For instance, if a worker is late but the service is completed by his teammates, the service operator has fulfilled the work requirements and should not be made liable.
Limits could also be set on the number of LDs a cleaning company could incur in a specific time period. Anything in excess could be a cause for termination. Such a clause would force the cleaning company to improve its services and also ensures that the service buyer imposes LDs reasonably.
There is no point keeping an operator that is unable to perform.
***
No payment for work done
If any of the buildings/facilities need to be cleaned for a VIP event on a Sunday or on a Monday following a public holiday or after office hours, there shall be no claims for the work done.
Why it's unfair
This does not account for the overtime pay cleaning companies have to pay workers.
***
Unfair expectations of workers
The cleaning company shall employ only healthy persons of good character, integrity and normal behaviour... and between the ages of 21 and 55. Waiver of age limit will be granted only on conditions of satisfactory health and work performance.
Why it's unfair
Such a clause smacks of ageism and implies that an older worker is deemed unfit unless he can prove he is not.
This leads to discriminatory hiring practices and should be dropped, given that Singapore is ageing fast and the Government is trying to encourage older workers to remain in the workforce for as long as they can.
***
Fines for complaints to the public or press
The cleaning company shall be fined $3,000 if it makes a public or press complaint, which brings 'disrepute' to the client.
Why it's unfair
This clause is unfair as it takes away the right of a cleaning company to suggest improvements in work processes that could ultimately increase productivity levels of the workers.
***
Allowance for late payment
Late payment by the client or service buyer shall not entitle the cleaning company to be compensated for any loss arising from this.
Neither shall late payment enable the cleaning company to suspend or delay its obligations under the contract.
Why it's unfair
A cleaning company's biggest cost is payroll.
If the client pays late, the company may have to incur higher finance rates that may erode its profit margins.
Service buyers or clients should pay on time and should pay a late payment charge if they are late.
SOURCE: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE
Unilateral right to extend/terminate contract
The right to terminate is often unilateral.
In some cases, the client - or service buyer - can sack the service provider if it 'fails to carry out work to the satisfaction of the client'. In others, the client has the option to terminate the contracts by giving three months' notice in writing 'without giving any reason whatsoever'.
In other contracts, the client has the option to extend the contract for up to three years at the same price and tender specifications.
Some contracts also state that the tenderer's - or the cleaning company's - bid shall remain valid for a period of six months from the closing date of the tender and that the tenderer cannot withdraw its offer during this period, or face paying damages for losses.
Why it's unfair
Unilateral extension of the contract or even the tender period does not allow cleaning companies to account for the cost of changes in government policies, such as if foreign worker levies are increased, thus increasing manpower costs for the companies.
***
Both parties should be given equal opportunities to extend or terminate contracts.
Liquidated damages or fines
A service buyer often has the right to impose fines or 'liquidated damages' (LDs) worth $100 on the cleaning company if a worker misses work, even if another worker doubles up and completes the work. The fines can be avoided only if a substitute worker makes up the total headcount.
Why it's unfair
This is tough in a tight labour market where companies are always short of workers. LDs should be based on performance, not on attendance or headcount.
For instance, if a worker is late but the service is completed by his teammates, the service operator has fulfilled the work requirements and should not be made liable.
Limits could also be set on the number of LDs a cleaning company could incur in a specific time period. Anything in excess could be a cause for termination. Such a clause would force the cleaning company to improve its services and also ensures that the service buyer imposes LDs reasonably.
There is no point keeping an operator that is unable to perform.
***
No payment for work done
If any of the buildings/facilities need to be cleaned for a VIP event on a Sunday or on a Monday following a public holiday or after office hours, there shall be no claims for the work done.
Why it's unfair
This does not account for the overtime pay cleaning companies have to pay workers.
***
Unfair expectations of workers
The cleaning company shall employ only healthy persons of good character, integrity and normal behaviour... and between the ages of 21 and 55. Waiver of age limit will be granted only on conditions of satisfactory health and work performance.
Why it's unfair
Such a clause smacks of ageism and implies that an older worker is deemed unfit unless he can prove he is not.
This leads to discriminatory hiring practices and should be dropped, given that Singapore is ageing fast and the Government is trying to encourage older workers to remain in the workforce for as long as they can.
***
Fines for complaints to the public or press
The cleaning company shall be fined $3,000 if it makes a public or press complaint, which brings 'disrepute' to the client.
Why it's unfair
This clause is unfair as it takes away the right of a cleaning company to suggest improvements in work processes that could ultimately increase productivity levels of the workers.
***
Allowance for late payment
Late payment by the client or service buyer shall not entitle the cleaning company to be compensated for any loss arising from this.
Neither shall late payment enable the cleaning company to suspend or delay its obligations under the contract.
Why it's unfair
A cleaning company's biggest cost is payroll.
If the client pays late, the company may have to incur higher finance rates that may erode its profit margins.
Service buyers or clients should pay on time and should pay a late payment charge if they are late.
SOURCE: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE
SATURDAY SPECIAL REPORT - dirty secrets of the cleaning industry
The biggest elephant in the room is one-sided contracts. And many contracts are based on headcount, rather than on productivity or performance.
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
By Radha Basu, Senior Correspondent
1 A customer has the right to extend a three-year cleaning contract by two years or more at the same prices. The cleaning company has no choice but to oblige.
2 The same customer can terminate the contract without 'giving any reason whatsoever'. Once more, the cleaning company has no say.
3 If a cleaner is absent and the cleaning company does not provide a substitute worker, it gets fined $100. This despite the fact that the cleaner earns only $40 a day - and one of his colleagues does double shift, so the work gets done.
CLEANING companies in Singapore are often subjected to one-sided contracts in favour of service buyers - such as building owners and town councils - checks with a dozen companies, the industry association and the cleaners' union have revealed.
According to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore, there are more than 2,000 firms that provide building-cleaning and janitorial services. Close to 300 were set up last year alone.
With so many companies vying for contracts, snagging deals by tendering cheap seems the only way to survive.
Barriers to entry in this industry are extremely low.
Anyone who can recruit a few bodies, buy detergent and cleaning tools can register a cleaning company, says Mr Milton Ng, president of the Environmental Management Association of Singapore (Emas), the industry body championing professionalisation and best practices in cleaning.
Cleaners grabbed centrestage in Parliament earlier this month, with Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam acknowledging the need to do more to help shore up their wages. Three in four cleaners are older Singaporeans with only primary school education.
The next day, Minister of State for Finance Josephine Teo announced that it will soon be mandatory for all government agencies to award contracts only to accredited cleaning companies which tend to have better pay structures and worker welfare.
Currently only about 60 of Singapore's cleaning companies are accredited, though they hire around 25,000 of the 70,000 local cleaners here.
Accredited companies are required to send cleaners for training and provide them with proper tools.
Moves are also afoot to ensure that all accredited companies have a basic wage requirement for cleaners.
However, industry representatives The Straits Times spoke to say that while these 'best sourcing' initiatives are good, the biggest elephant in the room - one-sided contracts - needs fixing urgently.
It is the industry's dirty secret that has been suffered in silence for a long time.
Unless there is a 'basic level of standardisation' in contract clauses, the problem of low wages cannot be fixed, says Mr Ng.
'Even domestic workers have the right to get out of a contract by giving notice. We don't see why cleaning companies should be any different?'
One-way street
THE fact that contracts can run up to six years at a time makes matters worse, says Mr Ng, who is director of Ramky Cleantech Services, which employs 1,500 cleaners.
'We have seen many 3+2 contracts where the service buyer has the right to extend a three-year contract by another two years with the same pay and work conditions. This means that a cleaner's wages can remain the same for up to five years.'
Ironically, while there are cleaning companies aplenty, the industry is facing a shortage of cleaners because of two recent developments: Singapore is witnessing its lowest local unemployment rates in 14 years, and increases in foreign-worker levies have tightened the tap on migrant workers eager for cleaning jobs.
Levies for unskilled foreign cleaners on work permits are being increased every six months, from $270 per worker per month in February last year to $400 in July next year.
Currently, any company getting an unskilled cleaner in pays $310 per worker per month.
That many contracts are based on headcount, rather than on productivity or performance, has made the situation worse, says Mr Woon Chiap Chan, country managing director of ISS Facilities Services.
With more than 6,000 cleaners, it is one of the largest such providers in Singapore.
ISS has more than 200 customers with monthly contract values of $5,000 or more. At least 70 per cent of them have drawn up headcount-based contracts, he says. These are audited largely by checking how many cleaners turn up for work each day.
Such an approach 'misses the forest for the trees', he says. The danger is that cleaning companies become mere 'body shops', with no incentive to increase innovation or productivity.
Heavy penalties
THERE is also an intricate system of fines, or 'liquidated damages' - usually of $100 per worker per shift - if a worker is absent and the provider falls short of the specified head count. In some cases, the fine has to be paid even if a worker is on medical leave and an existing worker covers for the absentee's duties.
'Even CEOs can take medical leave and the work at their company goes on. I just don't see why cleaners can't,' says Mr Woon. Some service buyers even penalise companies $10 to $30 if the worker shows up 10 minutes late.
Smaller firms are among the hardest hit.
Cleaning company boss Michael Koh, who heads a firm with 70 cleaners, claims that he paid out $200,000 in punitive fines last year alone. He had lost at least 20 staff - whom he paid around $900 a month - to competitors paying more.
Most of his contracts were tendered before the increase in levies last year and the fall in local employment rates. 'Most of the smaller companies like us just have to accept it and pay the penalties if we want to do business in this industry,' he says. 'We have no other choice.'
These days, cleaning companies have to pay $1,200 or more to woo local new entrants.
Because of rising labour and levy costs, Mr Woon badly wants to get out of a contract he tendered more than two years ago because he is losing $10,000 every month - but he can't.
The penalty of early termination will cost him more: at least $300,000.
Cleaning companies like his generally don't have the right to terminate the contract or change headcount requirements even if there are major policy changes.
But clients can. Any time.
Cleaning Express customer service manager Matthew Houston says that recently he had five clients asking for fewer staff as they were 'cutting costs'.
Fortunately, because of the labour shortage, Mr Houston was able to deploy all affected workers elsewhere. 'But some had to be trained for a new job scope as they moved to a different type of building. Yet others asked for additional transport costs, which we had to absorb,' he says.
There are some contracts that do provide cleaning companies with the option to pull out with one to three months' notice.
But the penalty for doing so is so heavy that it is just not worth it, says Mr John Selvan, managing director of Shiners Facilities Management.
'We get clients very much through word-of-mouth marketing. So pulling out will always be the last option,' he says.
Instead, companies like his, which are accredited and have begun paying cleaners $1,200, look to bagging contracts with fair buyers, usually foreign multinationals and private condominiums, who believe it is in the worker's interest to pay more.
There were at least 10 cases last year where Mr Selvan lost a contract to a cheaper bidder and had the client return to offer him the job when the cheaper competitor could not cope with the job.
'A company that pays a cleaner $750, will obviously have issues with quality and worker retention and might not end up being able to fulfil the contract,' he says. 'But not many buyers see that at the beginning.'
Sometimes, there are also no specific provisions for out-of-pocket expenses.
Operations manager Lawrence Toh of Chang Seng Services, for instance, rues the clause in a contract which makes the cleaning company responsible for building maintenance.
Every time a loan shark sprays paint on someone's door or someone complains of a ceiling blackened by soot in a block, Mr Toh's company is responsible for cleaning it up.
'We don't mind providing the manpower, but the service buyer should at least provide the material or pay for it,' he says, adding that during the tendering stage it will be impossible to estimate how many times a wall gets vandalised and factor in costs accordingly.
Net effect
WITH wage costs comprising up to 80 per cent of the tender costs - and usually fixed before the deal is closed - it's no surprise then that gross median pay for cleaning has seen a drop overall over the past decade.
In 2000, the median gross wage for cleaners and labourers was $1,277. By 2010, it fell to $960.
For cleaners of industrial buildings, the median gross wage was even lower, at around $600 in 2010.
Even as companies rush to woo new cleaners with high salaries, existing ones are not being paid more - like Mr Ng Peng Sian, 63, who has not had a pay rise since he began cleaning two HDB blocks near where he lives in 2007. He earns $600 every month for his six-hour-a-day job. He gets two days off a month.
Madam Norshiah Ibrahim, 60, has seen her pay shrink from $1,200 a month when she first began work in 1999 to $850 today.
The widow with four grown-up children cleans three HDB blocks in central Singapore between 7am and noon every day. 'I have not had to seek help from the Government so far, but with costs so high, it's quite difficult,' she says.
When the town council changed contractors, Madam Norshiah became an employee of the new contractor with the winning low bid.
'My bosses have always been good,' she says. 'But they say the price of the total contract has fallen so they cannot pay me more.'
She says that her boss has promised her that in three months, she may see her first raise in 13 years.
'I hope I get it,' she says, adding that she never thought of looking for another job since the current one is near her home.
Neither Mr Ng Peng Sian nor Madam Norshiah - who work in different districts - have written employment contracts or even pay slips, which are supposed to be mandatory.
Mandating best sourcing
AFTER several Members of Parliament raised the issue of low pay of cleaners in the House, it was announced that the Government will soon make it mandatory for all public sector organisations to hire cleaners only from accredited cleaning companies.
While acknowledging these moves as steps in the right direction, labour MP Zainal Sapari would like to see 'bolder moves' to ensure that low-wage workers get fair pay. Mr Zainal is the executive secretary of the Building Construction and Timber Industries Employees' Union, which cleaners and cleaning companies are affiliated to.
While he is glad that the Government is finally making accreditation mandatory, it could be years before the moves are fully implemented, since existing contracts could be in force for up to two to six years.
Besides, there is little pressure on the private sector to change its cheap sourcing ways. 'Left to themselves, very few companies will put workers' welfare over profits,' says Mr Zainal, who heads the unit for contract, casual and low-wage workers at the National Trades Union Congress.
He feels that enacting laws to make service buyers legally responsible for outsourced workers - even when the worker is not a direct employee - could help even more.
'We already have a precedent,' he says. 'When there is a workplace accident at any construction site, the site owner, not just the contractor, is held responsible under a law passed a few years ago.'
The cleaning industry, meanwhile, would like to see more incentives replace some punitive clauses.
'Instead of fining companies every time a worker does not show up, why not reward workers for 100 per cent attendance,' suggests Ms Sharon Kee of Horsburgh Engineering, which has contracts to clean hawker centres here.
Emas, on its part, is pressing for fairer deals and a set of common clauses to be included in all contracts. Moving away from headcount-based contracts to those that stipulate, for example, frequency of cleaning, could be a big step forward, suggests Mr Woon.
Most of all, both parties should have equal rights to extend, terminate or renegotiate contracts, especially when there are changes in government policy.
'I recently asked a lawyer whether I could get out of a cheap and unfair contract after the recent hike in foreign worker levies,' says Mr Milton Ng.
'He told me that I had signed my own death certificate.'
Additional reporting by Candice Neo
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
By Radha Basu, Senior Correspondent
1 A customer has the right to extend a three-year cleaning contract by two years or more at the same prices. The cleaning company has no choice but to oblige.
2 The same customer can terminate the contract without 'giving any reason whatsoever'. Once more, the cleaning company has no say.
3 If a cleaner is absent and the cleaning company does not provide a substitute worker, it gets fined $100. This despite the fact that the cleaner earns only $40 a day - and one of his colleagues does double shift, so the work gets done.
CLEANING companies in Singapore are often subjected to one-sided contracts in favour of service buyers - such as building owners and town councils - checks with a dozen companies, the industry association and the cleaners' union have revealed.
According to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore, there are more than 2,000 firms that provide building-cleaning and janitorial services. Close to 300 were set up last year alone.
With so many companies vying for contracts, snagging deals by tendering cheap seems the only way to survive.
Barriers to entry in this industry are extremely low.
Anyone who can recruit a few bodies, buy detergent and cleaning tools can register a cleaning company, says Mr Milton Ng, president of the Environmental Management Association of Singapore (Emas), the industry body championing professionalisation and best practices in cleaning.
Cleaners grabbed centrestage in Parliament earlier this month, with Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam acknowledging the need to do more to help shore up their wages. Three in four cleaners are older Singaporeans with only primary school education.
The next day, Minister of State for Finance Josephine Teo announced that it will soon be mandatory for all government agencies to award contracts only to accredited cleaning companies which tend to have better pay structures and worker welfare.
Currently only about 60 of Singapore's cleaning companies are accredited, though they hire around 25,000 of the 70,000 local cleaners here.
Accredited companies are required to send cleaners for training and provide them with proper tools.
Moves are also afoot to ensure that all accredited companies have a basic wage requirement for cleaners.
However, industry representatives The Straits Times spoke to say that while these 'best sourcing' initiatives are good, the biggest elephant in the room - one-sided contracts - needs fixing urgently.
It is the industry's dirty secret that has been suffered in silence for a long time.
Unless there is a 'basic level of standardisation' in contract clauses, the problem of low wages cannot be fixed, says Mr Ng.
'Even domestic workers have the right to get out of a contract by giving notice. We don't see why cleaning companies should be any different?'
One-way street
THE fact that contracts can run up to six years at a time makes matters worse, says Mr Ng, who is director of Ramky Cleantech Services, which employs 1,500 cleaners.
'We have seen many 3+2 contracts where the service buyer has the right to extend a three-year contract by another two years with the same pay and work conditions. This means that a cleaner's wages can remain the same for up to five years.'
Ironically, while there are cleaning companies aplenty, the industry is facing a shortage of cleaners because of two recent developments: Singapore is witnessing its lowest local unemployment rates in 14 years, and increases in foreign-worker levies have tightened the tap on migrant workers eager for cleaning jobs.
Levies for unskilled foreign cleaners on work permits are being increased every six months, from $270 per worker per month in February last year to $400 in July next year.
Currently, any company getting an unskilled cleaner in pays $310 per worker per month.
That many contracts are based on headcount, rather than on productivity or performance, has made the situation worse, says Mr Woon Chiap Chan, country managing director of ISS Facilities Services.
With more than 6,000 cleaners, it is one of the largest such providers in Singapore.
ISS has more than 200 customers with monthly contract values of $5,000 or more. At least 70 per cent of them have drawn up headcount-based contracts, he says. These are audited largely by checking how many cleaners turn up for work each day.
Such an approach 'misses the forest for the trees', he says. The danger is that cleaning companies become mere 'body shops', with no incentive to increase innovation or productivity.
Heavy penalties
THERE is also an intricate system of fines, or 'liquidated damages' - usually of $100 per worker per shift - if a worker is absent and the provider falls short of the specified head count. In some cases, the fine has to be paid even if a worker is on medical leave and an existing worker covers for the absentee's duties.
'Even CEOs can take medical leave and the work at their company goes on. I just don't see why cleaners can't,' says Mr Woon. Some service buyers even penalise companies $10 to $30 if the worker shows up 10 minutes late.
Smaller firms are among the hardest hit.
Cleaning company boss Michael Koh, who heads a firm with 70 cleaners, claims that he paid out $200,000 in punitive fines last year alone. He had lost at least 20 staff - whom he paid around $900 a month - to competitors paying more.
Most of his contracts were tendered before the increase in levies last year and the fall in local employment rates. 'Most of the smaller companies like us just have to accept it and pay the penalties if we want to do business in this industry,' he says. 'We have no other choice.'
These days, cleaning companies have to pay $1,200 or more to woo local new entrants.
Because of rising labour and levy costs, Mr Woon badly wants to get out of a contract he tendered more than two years ago because he is losing $10,000 every month - but he can't.
The penalty of early termination will cost him more: at least $300,000.
Cleaning companies like his generally don't have the right to terminate the contract or change headcount requirements even if there are major policy changes.
But clients can. Any time.
Cleaning Express customer service manager Matthew Houston says that recently he had five clients asking for fewer staff as they were 'cutting costs'.
Fortunately, because of the labour shortage, Mr Houston was able to deploy all affected workers elsewhere. 'But some had to be trained for a new job scope as they moved to a different type of building. Yet others asked for additional transport costs, which we had to absorb,' he says.
There are some contracts that do provide cleaning companies with the option to pull out with one to three months' notice.
But the penalty for doing so is so heavy that it is just not worth it, says Mr John Selvan, managing director of Shiners Facilities Management.
'We get clients very much through word-of-mouth marketing. So pulling out will always be the last option,' he says.
Instead, companies like his, which are accredited and have begun paying cleaners $1,200, look to bagging contracts with fair buyers, usually foreign multinationals and private condominiums, who believe it is in the worker's interest to pay more.
There were at least 10 cases last year where Mr Selvan lost a contract to a cheaper bidder and had the client return to offer him the job when the cheaper competitor could not cope with the job.
'A company that pays a cleaner $750, will obviously have issues with quality and worker retention and might not end up being able to fulfil the contract,' he says. 'But not many buyers see that at the beginning.'
Sometimes, there are also no specific provisions for out-of-pocket expenses.
Operations manager Lawrence Toh of Chang Seng Services, for instance, rues the clause in a contract which makes the cleaning company responsible for building maintenance.
Every time a loan shark sprays paint on someone's door or someone complains of a ceiling blackened by soot in a block, Mr Toh's company is responsible for cleaning it up.
'We don't mind providing the manpower, but the service buyer should at least provide the material or pay for it,' he says, adding that during the tendering stage it will be impossible to estimate how many times a wall gets vandalised and factor in costs accordingly.
Net effect
WITH wage costs comprising up to 80 per cent of the tender costs - and usually fixed before the deal is closed - it's no surprise then that gross median pay for cleaning has seen a drop overall over the past decade.
In 2000, the median gross wage for cleaners and labourers was $1,277. By 2010, it fell to $960.
For cleaners of industrial buildings, the median gross wage was even lower, at around $600 in 2010.
Even as companies rush to woo new cleaners with high salaries, existing ones are not being paid more - like Mr Ng Peng Sian, 63, who has not had a pay rise since he began cleaning two HDB blocks near where he lives in 2007. He earns $600 every month for his six-hour-a-day job. He gets two days off a month.
Madam Norshiah Ibrahim, 60, has seen her pay shrink from $1,200 a month when she first began work in 1999 to $850 today.
The widow with four grown-up children cleans three HDB blocks in central Singapore between 7am and noon every day. 'I have not had to seek help from the Government so far, but with costs so high, it's quite difficult,' she says.
When the town council changed contractors, Madam Norshiah became an employee of the new contractor with the winning low bid.
'My bosses have always been good,' she says. 'But they say the price of the total contract has fallen so they cannot pay me more.'
She says that her boss has promised her that in three months, she may see her first raise in 13 years.
'I hope I get it,' she says, adding that she never thought of looking for another job since the current one is near her home.
Neither Mr Ng Peng Sian nor Madam Norshiah - who work in different districts - have written employment contracts or even pay slips, which are supposed to be mandatory.
Mandating best sourcing
AFTER several Members of Parliament raised the issue of low pay of cleaners in the House, it was announced that the Government will soon make it mandatory for all public sector organisations to hire cleaners only from accredited cleaning companies.
While acknowledging these moves as steps in the right direction, labour MP Zainal Sapari would like to see 'bolder moves' to ensure that low-wage workers get fair pay. Mr Zainal is the executive secretary of the Building Construction and Timber Industries Employees' Union, which cleaners and cleaning companies are affiliated to.
While he is glad that the Government is finally making accreditation mandatory, it could be years before the moves are fully implemented, since existing contracts could be in force for up to two to six years.
Besides, there is little pressure on the private sector to change its cheap sourcing ways. 'Left to themselves, very few companies will put workers' welfare over profits,' says Mr Zainal, who heads the unit for contract, casual and low-wage workers at the National Trades Union Congress.
He feels that enacting laws to make service buyers legally responsible for outsourced workers - even when the worker is not a direct employee - could help even more.
'We already have a precedent,' he says. 'When there is a workplace accident at any construction site, the site owner, not just the contractor, is held responsible under a law passed a few years ago.'
The cleaning industry, meanwhile, would like to see more incentives replace some punitive clauses.
'Instead of fining companies every time a worker does not show up, why not reward workers for 100 per cent attendance,' suggests Ms Sharon Kee of Horsburgh Engineering, which has contracts to clean hawker centres here.
Emas, on its part, is pressing for fairer deals and a set of common clauses to be included in all contracts. Moving away from headcount-based contracts to those that stipulate, for example, frequency of cleaning, could be a big step forward, suggests Mr Woon.
Most of all, both parties should have equal rights to extend, terminate or renegotiate contracts, especially when there are changes in government policy.
'I recently asked a lawyer whether I could get out of a cheap and unfair contract after the recent hike in foreign worker levies,' says Mr Milton Ng.
'He told me that I had signed my own death certificate.'
Additional reporting by Candice Neo
SATURDAY SPECIAL REPORT - Undercutting, bad contracts depress cleaners' pay
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
By Radha Basu, Senior Correspondent
A NEW cleaning company was set up almost every day last year, despite a shortage of cleaners.
There are more than 2,000 companies offering building cleaning and janitorial services now, up from 850 a decade ago, checks with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore showed. Last year alone, more than 270 were registered.
The result is intense undercutting in the industry and depressed wages for cleaners, as some companies accept contracts with clauses stacked against them.
These include the unilateral right of service buyers to extend or terminate contracts, or fire the cleaning company without having to give a reason.
Some contracts have automatic renewal clauses that can lock in costs - and consequently workers' wages - for five years. Some specify that older cleaners are not acceptable, and many have a host of penalties if workers are late, miss a day's work or look dirty.
Cleaning companies are often not allowed to renegotiate even if policy changes - like increases in foreign worker levies - increase business costs.
Now, the industry association and the union representing cleaners want some standard clauses included in all contracts.
It will soon become mandatory for all public sector agencies to award cleaning contracts only to accredited companies, which tend to pay cleaners better and give better terms. Currently, only 60 - mostly the larger ones - are accredited. They hire about 25,000 of the 70,000 local cleaners.
Mr Milton Ng, the industry association chief, said companies that agree to the worst contracts tend to be those that put in the cheapest bids.
'As the industry is highly fragmented and has very low barriers to entry, it is difficult to appeal to members not to accept these one-sided contracts,' he said. 'So, mandating a certain level of standardisation would help.'
Labour MP Zainal Sapari, executive secretary of the Building Construction and Timber Industries Employees' Union, which has 4,000 members who are cleaners, agreed with the association's push for standardised clauses. 'Of course, sufficient notice must also be given to service buyers,' he said.
Service buyers such as Mr Francis Zhan, chief executive of the Association of Management Corporations in Singapore, felt care should be taken in contracts to also protect cleaners from rogue employers.
'We must also ensure that contracts also protect workers from being exploited by their direct employers,' he said.
By Radha Basu, Senior Correspondent
A NEW cleaning company was set up almost every day last year, despite a shortage of cleaners.
There are more than 2,000 companies offering building cleaning and janitorial services now, up from 850 a decade ago, checks with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore showed. Last year alone, more than 270 were registered.
The result is intense undercutting in the industry and depressed wages for cleaners, as some companies accept contracts with clauses stacked against them.
These include the unilateral right of service buyers to extend or terminate contracts, or fire the cleaning company without having to give a reason.
Some contracts have automatic renewal clauses that can lock in costs - and consequently workers' wages - for five years. Some specify that older cleaners are not acceptable, and many have a host of penalties if workers are late, miss a day's work or look dirty.
Cleaning companies are often not allowed to renegotiate even if policy changes - like increases in foreign worker levies - increase business costs.
Now, the industry association and the union representing cleaners want some standard clauses included in all contracts.
It will soon become mandatory for all public sector agencies to award cleaning contracts only to accredited companies, which tend to pay cleaners better and give better terms. Currently, only 60 - mostly the larger ones - are accredited. They hire about 25,000 of the 70,000 local cleaners.
Mr Milton Ng, the industry association chief, said companies that agree to the worst contracts tend to be those that put in the cheapest bids.
'As the industry is highly fragmented and has very low barriers to entry, it is difficult to appeal to members not to accept these one-sided contracts,' he said. 'So, mandating a certain level of standardisation would help.'
Labour MP Zainal Sapari, executive secretary of the Building Construction and Timber Industries Employees' Union, which has 4,000 members who are cleaners, agreed with the association's push for standardised clauses. 'Of course, sufficient notice must also be given to service buyers,' he said.
Service buyers such as Mr Francis Zhan, chief executive of the Association of Management Corporations in Singapore, felt care should be taken in contracts to also protect cleaners from rogue employers.
'We must also ensure that contracts also protect workers from being exploited by their direct employers,' he said.
Construction worker can't double as driver: Insurer
NTUC Income won't cover vehicle accident if driver is a foreign construction worker
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
By Yunita Ong
CONSTRUCTION firms here which have been bending the rules by getting construction workers to double as drivers are in for a rude shock.
Leading local insurer NTUC Income has announced that it will not cover motor vehicle accidents if the driver is a foreign construction worker whose job scope does not include driving.
The move could add to business costs.
Income's move effectively reflects the official position of the authorities: that foreign construction workers who are not designated to be drivers should not drive in the course of their employment.
However, in practice, many firms have used construction workers to double as drivers in vehicles plying to and from the construction site.
This is to keep costs down, and because it is hard to find Singaporean drivers willing to put in the long hours involved in transporting foreign workers.
Income's move is effective from tomorrow.
In a letter to agents and business partners earlier this month, it said it would be adding a new clause to its commercial vehicle insurance policy.
This would exclude coverage of motor vehicle accidents if a vehicle is 'driven in the course of work by a foreign worker whose occupation stated in his/her work permit is that of a construction worker'.
Foreign worker advocacy group Transient Workers Count Too said construction workers have been acting as drivers on various situations.
For example, they ferry their bosses from place to place, said the group's executive committee member John Gee.
One reason employers turn to construction workers is the difficulty of getting Singaporeans to work as drivers.
The head of a local construction firm here, who wanted to be known only as Mr Lim, noted that local hires are less willing to put up with the long hours of the job than foreign workers.
An Income spokesman told The Straits Times that Income's move is for the reasons of 'clarity and transparency' as the insurer has received queries from time to time.
The move is consistent with existing laws such as the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.
Under this Act, a work permit holder employed as a 'construction worker' is barred from driving commercial vehicles on public roads in the course of work.
A Ministry of Manpower spokesman told The Straits Times a work permit holder may not drive while working on public roads unless the occupation stated in the work permit involves driving.
The Singapore Police Force website also states that a work permit holder cannot drive in his work on public roads unless his work permit designates him as a driver or his job scope requires him to drive.
Those who drive or knowingly allow someone else to drive a vehicle without insurance cover is liable for prosecution.
They are also personally liable for damage claims if their vehicle is involved in an accident.
Income's stance could hit small firms as many use foreign construction workers to double as drivers, Association of Small and Medium Enterprises president Chan Chong Beng told The Straits Times.
Mr Chan said: 'Many small firms don't employ a lot of people, so they would want to maximise the usage of workers.
'In such a tight labour market, it makes more sense to allow workers to be able to multi-task if they have additional skills that could increase the productivity of the company.'
Real estate and manufacturing business Crescendas Group chairman and chief executive Lawrence Leow also felt that such restrictions should be relaxed. 'Driving should be seen as a skill that companies can tap to maximise productivity.'
Both believe foreign construction workers should be allowed to drive.
Mr Chan added: 'Once they've passed the necessary tests to drive in Singapore, these workers are, on the road, just like any other Singaporean.'
Employers not in the construction sector also use workers, who are not designated to drive, to drive but Income's clause affects only construction workers.
Mr J. Chia, who owns an air-conditioning firm, is one. Four of his air-con technicians drive to and from servicing jobs.
He had been unable to hire more foreign workers under service sector quotas, covering drivers and technicians.
Firms such as Mr Chia's are allowed one foreign worker for each local hire.
But Mr Chia is now worried that Income may roll out this restriction to other occupations.
Other insurance companies The Straits Times spoke to - Great Eastern, AXA and Etiqa - do not have this specific exclusion in their commercial vehicle insurance policies.
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
By Yunita Ong
CONSTRUCTION firms here which have been bending the rules by getting construction workers to double as drivers are in for a rude shock.
Leading local insurer NTUC Income has announced that it will not cover motor vehicle accidents if the driver is a foreign construction worker whose job scope does not include driving.
The move could add to business costs.
Income's move effectively reflects the official position of the authorities: that foreign construction workers who are not designated to be drivers should not drive in the course of their employment.
However, in practice, many firms have used construction workers to double as drivers in vehicles plying to and from the construction site.
This is to keep costs down, and because it is hard to find Singaporean drivers willing to put in the long hours involved in transporting foreign workers.
Income's move is effective from tomorrow.
In a letter to agents and business partners earlier this month, it said it would be adding a new clause to its commercial vehicle insurance policy.
This would exclude coverage of motor vehicle accidents if a vehicle is 'driven in the course of work by a foreign worker whose occupation stated in his/her work permit is that of a construction worker'.
Foreign worker advocacy group Transient Workers Count Too said construction workers have been acting as drivers on various situations.
For example, they ferry their bosses from place to place, said the group's executive committee member John Gee.
One reason employers turn to construction workers is the difficulty of getting Singaporeans to work as drivers.
The head of a local construction firm here, who wanted to be known only as Mr Lim, noted that local hires are less willing to put up with the long hours of the job than foreign workers.
An Income spokesman told The Straits Times that Income's move is for the reasons of 'clarity and transparency' as the insurer has received queries from time to time.
The move is consistent with existing laws such as the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.
Under this Act, a work permit holder employed as a 'construction worker' is barred from driving commercial vehicles on public roads in the course of work.
A Ministry of Manpower spokesman told The Straits Times a work permit holder may not drive while working on public roads unless the occupation stated in the work permit involves driving.
The Singapore Police Force website also states that a work permit holder cannot drive in his work on public roads unless his work permit designates him as a driver or his job scope requires him to drive.
Those who drive or knowingly allow someone else to drive a vehicle without insurance cover is liable for prosecution.
They are also personally liable for damage claims if their vehicle is involved in an accident.
Income's stance could hit small firms as many use foreign construction workers to double as drivers, Association of Small and Medium Enterprises president Chan Chong Beng told The Straits Times.
Mr Chan said: 'Many small firms don't employ a lot of people, so they would want to maximise the usage of workers.
'In such a tight labour market, it makes more sense to allow workers to be able to multi-task if they have additional skills that could increase the productivity of the company.'
Real estate and manufacturing business Crescendas Group chairman and chief executive Lawrence Leow also felt that such restrictions should be relaxed. 'Driving should be seen as a skill that companies can tap to maximise productivity.'
Both believe foreign construction workers should be allowed to drive.
Mr Chan added: 'Once they've passed the necessary tests to drive in Singapore, these workers are, on the road, just like any other Singaporean.'
Employers not in the construction sector also use workers, who are not designated to drive, to drive but Income's clause affects only construction workers.
Mr J. Chia, who owns an air-conditioning firm, is one. Four of his air-con technicians drive to and from servicing jobs.
He had been unable to hire more foreign workers under service sector quotas, covering drivers and technicians.
Firms such as Mr Chia's are allowed one foreign worker for each local hire.
But Mr Chia is now worried that Income may roll out this restriction to other occupations.
Other insurance companies The Straits Times spoke to - Great Eastern, AXA and Etiqa - do not have this specific exclusion in their commercial vehicle insurance policies.
Maid dies in 30-storey plunge
Straits Times, Published on Mar 31, 2012
A 23-YEAR-OLD Indonesian maid fell 30 storeys to her death at Telok Blangah Heights on Thursday.
She had apparently been cleaning the windows of her employer's flat at about 1pm.
This is at least the third case so far this year of a maid falling to her death here.
A neighbour told Chinese newspaper Shinmin Daily that she was in the vicinity when the maid fell. She was at a nearby bus stop when she heard a loud noise.
She saw the maid on the ground with blood flowing from her head, and the maid's employer arriving soon after.
She said the female employer told her that the maid had lost her balance and fallen out of the window, but managed to cling to it. She shouted for her employer, but fell before the woman could reach her.
The maid was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics at about 1.15pm.
The Straits Times understands that the maid had worked for the family of five - a couple, two young children and an elderly woman- for about two years.
The family declined to comment on the incident.
The neighbour said that the maid's employer would tell her not to open the metal window grilles when she was cleaning the windows. But she still did so, saying she could not clean the windows without opening them.
Neighbours said they would occasionally see the maid around the area, and described her as quiet and petite.
Police are investigating the incident as an unnatural death.
CHERIE THIO
A 23-YEAR-OLD Indonesian maid fell 30 storeys to her death at Telok Blangah Heights on Thursday.
She had apparently been cleaning the windows of her employer's flat at about 1pm.
This is at least the third case so far this year of a maid falling to her death here.
A neighbour told Chinese newspaper Shinmin Daily that she was in the vicinity when the maid fell. She was at a nearby bus stop when she heard a loud noise.
She saw the maid on the ground with blood flowing from her head, and the maid's employer arriving soon after.
She said the female employer told her that the maid had lost her balance and fallen out of the window, but managed to cling to it. She shouted for her employer, but fell before the woman could reach her.
The maid was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics at about 1.15pm.
The Straits Times understands that the maid had worked for the family of five - a couple, two young children and an elderly woman- for about two years.
The family declined to comment on the incident.
The neighbour said that the maid's employer would tell her not to open the metal window grilles when she was cleaning the windows. But she still did so, saying she could not clean the windows without opening them.
Neighbours said they would occasionally see the maid around the area, and described her as quiet and petite.
Police are investigating the incident as an unnatural death.
CHERIE THIO
Friday, March 30, 2012
Man jailed for maid abuse
by Claire Huang Jingyi
TODAY, Mar 30, 2012
SINGAPORE - A 39-year-old man has been sentenced to eight weeks in jail for maid abuse.
The court heard yesterday that Elly Sutra Sulaiman accused his maid of poisoning his drinking water and punched her nose and left eye on July 1 last year.
The self-employed man then warned Ms Emi Hayati not to tell anyone he had hit her.
Later that day, Elly kicked the maid twice on her thigh.
For this, he could have been jailed up to three years, fined up to S$5,000, or both.
But the judge took into account that Elly's wife is the sole breadwinner and is now pregnant with their fourth child.
Elly was given eight weeks' jail and ordered to compensate the maid S$1,000.
TODAY, Mar 30, 2012
SINGAPORE - A 39-year-old man has been sentenced to eight weeks in jail for maid abuse.
The court heard yesterday that Elly Sutra Sulaiman accused his maid of poisoning his drinking water and punched her nose and left eye on July 1 last year.
The self-employed man then warned Ms Emi Hayati not to tell anyone he had hit her.
Later that day, Elly kicked the maid twice on her thigh.
For this, he could have been jailed up to three years, fined up to S$5,000, or both.
But the judge took into account that Elly's wife is the sole breadwinner and is now pregnant with their fourth child.
Elly was given eight weeks' jail and ordered to compensate the maid S$1,000.
Make Little India a better place
Letter from Lee Kok Leong
TODAY, Voices, Mar 30, 2012
THE overcrowding of Little India (picture) has been a perennial problem for residents, road users, businesses, transient workers and the image of our tourism, with tourists often advised to avoid Little India at all costs on weekends.
I applaud the measures to hire auxiliary security officers to ensure that the workers do not crowd the residential areas around Tekka Centre, Farrer Park, Chander Road and Klang Lane.
However, this does not address the primary problem of overcrowding and, consequently, the disamenities. With the construction business booming, more workers are expected to come to Singapore.
The amenities in tiny Little India are no longer able to support the needs of these workers, who are congregating in numbers, flanking the roads in and around Serangoon. Private bus operators bussing them in also create congestion and noise pollution.
With no proper pedestrian walkways for them and no visible public restrooms, the workers' safety and health are compromised, surely.
I propose three solutions. First, to address overcrowding, the workers should be redirected from Serangoon Road by building a shopping complex to cater to their needs.
This would be similar to Lucky Plaza or Peninsula Plaza, where other transient workers gather. Such a mall could include South Asian eateries, remittance services, entertainment, supermarkets, beauty and health care services.
Most importantly, with a catchment of workers, social services could be provided to meet their needs. The mall operator could partner private bus operators to bus these workers to the mall, thus solving the overcrowding in Little India.
Second, Race Course Road should be widened to three lanes, to alleviate congestion, and traffic lights installed to regulate traffic flow.
Public bus services should be extended to Race Course Road so that commuters could have better access to town, rather than having bus services in only one direction along Serangoon Road and Jalan Besar.
This provides train commuters an alternative route to and from Little India.
Third, restrictions on the type of businesses for the conserved shophouses should be imposed, for example, no sale of fruits and vegetables along the roads.
Little India's image could then be one of a truly visitor-friendly place with a unique cultural proposition for tourists. I look forward to seeing the authorities take a more proactive approach in making Little India a better place for all.
TODAY, Voices, Mar 30, 2012
THE overcrowding of Little India (picture) has been a perennial problem for residents, road users, businesses, transient workers and the image of our tourism, with tourists often advised to avoid Little India at all costs on weekends.
I applaud the measures to hire auxiliary security officers to ensure that the workers do not crowd the residential areas around Tekka Centre, Farrer Park, Chander Road and Klang Lane.
However, this does not address the primary problem of overcrowding and, consequently, the disamenities. With the construction business booming, more workers are expected to come to Singapore.
The amenities in tiny Little India are no longer able to support the needs of these workers, who are congregating in numbers, flanking the roads in and around Serangoon. Private bus operators bussing them in also create congestion and noise pollution.
With no proper pedestrian walkways for them and no visible public restrooms, the workers' safety and health are compromised, surely.
I propose three solutions. First, to address overcrowding, the workers should be redirected from Serangoon Road by building a shopping complex to cater to their needs.
This would be similar to Lucky Plaza or Peninsula Plaza, where other transient workers gather. Such a mall could include South Asian eateries, remittance services, entertainment, supermarkets, beauty and health care services.
Most importantly, with a catchment of workers, social services could be provided to meet their needs. The mall operator could partner private bus operators to bus these workers to the mall, thus solving the overcrowding in Little India.
Second, Race Course Road should be widened to three lanes, to alleviate congestion, and traffic lights installed to regulate traffic flow.
Public bus services should be extended to Race Course Road so that commuters could have better access to town, rather than having bus services in only one direction along Serangoon Road and Jalan Besar.
This provides train commuters an alternative route to and from Little India.
Third, restrictions on the type of businesses for the conserved shophouses should be imposed, for example, no sale of fruits and vegetables along the roads.
Little India's image could then be one of a truly visitor-friendly place with a unique cultural proposition for tourists. I look forward to seeing the authorities take a more proactive approach in making Little India a better place for all.
Commentary - Clearing away the cobwebs
Accrediting cleaning agencies a good first step towards goal of improving wages
Straits Times, Published on Mar 30, 2012
By Rachel Chang
THE Government has launched an offensive to eradicate low wages and low standards in the cleaning industry.
For too long, as Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan put it during this month's Budget debate, cleaners here have been earning Third World wages in a First World country.
To set an example in 'best-sourcing', all public-sector bodies will soon be required to hire only accredited cleaning agencies. These are agencies that the National Environment Agency has certified as having in place proper human resource practices, such as sending their workers for training.
Soon, cleaning companies will also be required to pay their workers 'appropriate wages' when there are productivity gains, to become or remain accredited. That is a big push to raise cleaners' wages, which have for years languished at $1,000 a month or even less.
But these changes apply only to government contracts, which account for a tenth of the industry, and therefore are unlikely to prove a game-changer for the long-marginalised sector.
Two other factors limit the impact the changes will have on cleaners' wages.
The first is the existence of numerous unaccredited agencies which do not rely on government contracts, and plan to stay that way.
Of the 900 cleaning agencies in Singapore, only 60 are accredited. These are big players and employ 25,000 of the 70,000 local cleaners.
In theory, once the big boys start paying more, market forces will push the overall wage level up. Unaccredited firms should see their cleaners migrate to better-paying jobs in the bigger firms. To stay in the game, these smaller firms will also be forced to pay better.
But in reality, some will still get away with paying cleaners less because they can offer flexibility and convenience.
According to official statistics, an office cleaner in 2010 made a gross monthly income of $800. Some bigger firms say that they are paying $1,000 to $1,200.
Big accredited firms sign cleaners to a standard 44-hour week contract and deploy them all over the island.
Smaller agencies accommodate cleaners who want to work only a few hours a day, or only on certain days in a week, or in a certain neighbourhood.
There are also some workers who do not know that they can earn more elsewhere, or are fearful of giving up a steady pay cheque, however meagre, to find out.
But small firms have a habit of being 'flexible' on details, like avoiding payment of workers' Central Provident Fund contributions or scrimping on cleaning materials.
This is why the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources is mulling over a licensing scheme, to set a minimum standard that all companies must meet before they can operate. Accreditation would then be a mark of quality one step beyond this.
Such a two-tier system is already in place for the security industry.
To get a licence for operation, all firms must meet criteria such as providing basic training for workers. Next, firms are graded annually from A to D.
There are merits to licensing, but any move to do so in the cleaning industry must not be so onerous on small firms as to put them out of business.
Most are legitimate businesses that offer their workers flexible hours, like senior citizens or housewives who want to work only mornings so they can care for grandchildren after school. They take home less per diem, but it is still work on their terms - which an industry dominated by big firms may not allow.
There is a second factor that limits the ability of accreditation to raise wages. This has to do with the difficulties in improving productivity.
Under the enhanced accreditation criteria, 'appropriate wages' must be paid to workers when there are productivity gains. This assures workers of wage rises. At the same time, it limits unsustainable wage inflation: Without this condition, wage increases will lead directly to a brusque round of inflation for all consumers of cleaning services - that is, everyone.
But industry players say most big contracts are designed in a way that creates disincentives for productivity improvements. For example, many specify a 'minimum headcount' of cleaners required. If an agency fails to provide this number of cleaners, then it may have to reimburse the service buyer 'liquidated damages'.
LS2 cleaning services general manager Dennis Tan laments: 'Some of my cleaners can multi-task. So I don't need 10 cleaners to cover the area, but five good ones. Is it fair if I have to pay the buyer back for having good cleaners?'
The problem is there is no clear-cut method to evaluate the standard of a cleaning service. Many buyers of cleaning services thus resort to specifying 'minimum headcount'.
The difficulty in setting standards for cleaning services also explains the race to the lowest common denominator. A clean table is a clean table, and no one will want to pay more for a 'premium' service for a clean table. So most customers, save a few exceptions, yield to the temptation to hire the cheapest bidder.
And when a cleaning service is outsourced, cleaners become mere digits in customers' eyes.
One agency boss wonders why service buyers leap at a contract for a price that cannot be squared with a tolerable wage per worker. 'They can divide by themselves how much each worker is getting paid. Why are you still giving this agency your business?'
These calculations are easy to make, and easier for the conscience to avoid.
With the industry's manpower shortage set to become more severe as its quota of foreign workers shrinks from 50 per cent to 45 per cent of staff strength in July, cleaners' pay is already on an upward trajectory.
Managing director of ISS Facility Services Woon Chiap Chan paints a picture of where wages, without a liberal supply of foreign labour, could be headed. In Denmark, where his company is headquartered, a chambermaid makes in an hour what cleaners here make in a day.
That day will come for Singaporean cleaners, he predicts.
If that is so, there is every incentive to boost productivity in the sector fast. It is better to pay a few good cleaners well, rather than an army of unproductive cleaners badly.
Accrediting cleaning agencies is a good first step towards that goal.
Straits Times, Published on Mar 30, 2012
By Rachel Chang
THE Government has launched an offensive to eradicate low wages and low standards in the cleaning industry.
For too long, as Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan put it during this month's Budget debate, cleaners here have been earning Third World wages in a First World country.
To set an example in 'best-sourcing', all public-sector bodies will soon be required to hire only accredited cleaning agencies. These are agencies that the National Environment Agency has certified as having in place proper human resource practices, such as sending their workers for training.
Soon, cleaning companies will also be required to pay their workers 'appropriate wages' when there are productivity gains, to become or remain accredited. That is a big push to raise cleaners' wages, which have for years languished at $1,000 a month or even less.
But these changes apply only to government contracts, which account for a tenth of the industry, and therefore are unlikely to prove a game-changer for the long-marginalised sector.
Two other factors limit the impact the changes will have on cleaners' wages.
The first is the existence of numerous unaccredited agencies which do not rely on government contracts, and plan to stay that way.
Of the 900 cleaning agencies in Singapore, only 60 are accredited. These are big players and employ 25,000 of the 70,000 local cleaners.
In theory, once the big boys start paying more, market forces will push the overall wage level up. Unaccredited firms should see their cleaners migrate to better-paying jobs in the bigger firms. To stay in the game, these smaller firms will also be forced to pay better.
But in reality, some will still get away with paying cleaners less because they can offer flexibility and convenience.
According to official statistics, an office cleaner in 2010 made a gross monthly income of $800. Some bigger firms say that they are paying $1,000 to $1,200.
Big accredited firms sign cleaners to a standard 44-hour week contract and deploy them all over the island.
Smaller agencies accommodate cleaners who want to work only a few hours a day, or only on certain days in a week, or in a certain neighbourhood.
There are also some workers who do not know that they can earn more elsewhere, or are fearful of giving up a steady pay cheque, however meagre, to find out.
But small firms have a habit of being 'flexible' on details, like avoiding payment of workers' Central Provident Fund contributions or scrimping on cleaning materials.
This is why the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources is mulling over a licensing scheme, to set a minimum standard that all companies must meet before they can operate. Accreditation would then be a mark of quality one step beyond this.
Such a two-tier system is already in place for the security industry.
To get a licence for operation, all firms must meet criteria such as providing basic training for workers. Next, firms are graded annually from A to D.
There are merits to licensing, but any move to do so in the cleaning industry must not be so onerous on small firms as to put them out of business.
Most are legitimate businesses that offer their workers flexible hours, like senior citizens or housewives who want to work only mornings so they can care for grandchildren after school. They take home less per diem, but it is still work on their terms - which an industry dominated by big firms may not allow.
There is a second factor that limits the ability of accreditation to raise wages. This has to do with the difficulties in improving productivity.
Under the enhanced accreditation criteria, 'appropriate wages' must be paid to workers when there are productivity gains. This assures workers of wage rises. At the same time, it limits unsustainable wage inflation: Without this condition, wage increases will lead directly to a brusque round of inflation for all consumers of cleaning services - that is, everyone.
But industry players say most big contracts are designed in a way that creates disincentives for productivity improvements. For example, many specify a 'minimum headcount' of cleaners required. If an agency fails to provide this number of cleaners, then it may have to reimburse the service buyer 'liquidated damages'.
LS2 cleaning services general manager Dennis Tan laments: 'Some of my cleaners can multi-task. So I don't need 10 cleaners to cover the area, but five good ones. Is it fair if I have to pay the buyer back for having good cleaners?'
The problem is there is no clear-cut method to evaluate the standard of a cleaning service. Many buyers of cleaning services thus resort to specifying 'minimum headcount'.
The difficulty in setting standards for cleaning services also explains the race to the lowest common denominator. A clean table is a clean table, and no one will want to pay more for a 'premium' service for a clean table. So most customers, save a few exceptions, yield to the temptation to hire the cheapest bidder.
And when a cleaning service is outsourced, cleaners become mere digits in customers' eyes.
One agency boss wonders why service buyers leap at a contract for a price that cannot be squared with a tolerable wage per worker. 'They can divide by themselves how much each worker is getting paid. Why are you still giving this agency your business?'
These calculations are easy to make, and easier for the conscience to avoid.
With the industry's manpower shortage set to become more severe as its quota of foreign workers shrinks from 50 per cent to 45 per cent of staff strength in July, cleaners' pay is already on an upward trajectory.
Managing director of ISS Facility Services Woon Chiap Chan paints a picture of where wages, without a liberal supply of foreign labour, could be headed. In Denmark, where his company is headquartered, a chambermaid makes in an hour what cleaners here make in a day.
That day will come for Singaporean cleaners, he predicts.
If that is so, there is every incentive to boost productivity in the sector fast. It is better to pay a few good cleaners well, rather than an army of unproductive cleaners badly.
Accrediting cleaning agencies is a good first step towards that goal.
Jailed for hitting maid over 'poison' suspicions
Man had pulled out of 2011 GE after applying to be independent candidate
Straits Times, Published on Mar 30, 2012
By Fiona Low
Photo caption: Elly Sutra, a father of three, hit the maid while she was holding his baby. He was jailed for eight weeks and also ordered to pay $1,000 in compensation. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
A MAN who applied to be an independent candidate in last year's general election was yesterday jailed for eight weeks for maid abuse. He was also ordered to pay $1,000 in compensation to the woman.
Elly Sutra Sulaiman punched and kicked his domestic helper because he suspected she had poisoned his drink, the court heard.
The 39-year-old applied to contest last May's general election in the Radin Mas single-member constituency. He later pulled out when it appeared there would be a multi-cornered fight.
The father of three claimed trial to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt, but was found guilty and convicted on Tuesday. Two other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing - one of violating a personal protection order taken out by his wife, and another for voluntarily causing hurt to another maid who worked for his family.
The incident occurred on the morning of July 1 last year. Elly Sutra claimed he had drunk from a bottle of mineral water at his home in Punggol and later vomited. He believed his domestic helper, Ms Emi Hayati, 35, had poisoned his drink.
The court heard that when she denied tampering with his drink, he punched her in the eye and nose even though she was holding his then four-month-old baby. The impact left her with a bleeding nose and temporarily blurred vision.
Immediately after hitting her, Elly Sutra asked the maid: 'What happened to your nose?'
He then told her: 'I did not beat you. Don't say I beat you.'
After the abuse, he called the police. He told officers that his vomit smelled strongly of perfume, and so did the master bedroom where his children were.
He said he suspected that Ms Emi, an Indonesian who had been working for his family for one month, had taught the children - now aged four, two and one - to contaminate his drinking water.
In the two-day trial, Elly Sutra argued that Ms Emi had inflicted the injuries on herself. He said she had used her left hand to hit her own face, while carrying the baby with her right hand.
Dr Ian Jay Basiao Tan, who treated Ms Emi at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital on the day of the incident, testified that in his opinion, the injuries were unlikely to have been self-inflicted.
The prosecution said the evidence presented by Elly Sutra was 'deliberate lies and with a widespread pattern of blaming all and sundry'.
Assistant public prosecutor Lydia Goh also stressed that the accused showed no remorse, paid no compensation, made unfounded allegations and cast aspersions on the maid's character.
In mitigation, the accused, who was not represented, said his wife was the sole breadwinner in the family and he cared for their three young children daily.
He urged the court to impose a fine, and said his children needed him.
His wife, a 29-year-old engineer, pleaded in court on his behalf. She is currently pregnant with their fourth child and said she needed his support.
For voluntarily causing hurt to his domestic helper, he could have been jailed for up to three years and fined up to $7,500.
Straits Times, Published on Mar 30, 2012
By Fiona Low
A MAN who applied to be an independent candidate in last year's general election was yesterday jailed for eight weeks for maid abuse. He was also ordered to pay $1,000 in compensation to the woman.
Elly Sutra Sulaiman punched and kicked his domestic helper because he suspected she had poisoned his drink, the court heard.
The 39-year-old applied to contest last May's general election in the Radin Mas single-member constituency. He later pulled out when it appeared there would be a multi-cornered fight.
The father of three claimed trial to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt, but was found guilty and convicted on Tuesday. Two other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing - one of violating a personal protection order taken out by his wife, and another for voluntarily causing hurt to another maid who worked for his family.
The incident occurred on the morning of July 1 last year. Elly Sutra claimed he had drunk from a bottle of mineral water at his home in Punggol and later vomited. He believed his domestic helper, Ms Emi Hayati, 35, had poisoned his drink.
The court heard that when she denied tampering with his drink, he punched her in the eye and nose even though she was holding his then four-month-old baby. The impact left her with a bleeding nose and temporarily blurred vision.
Immediately after hitting her, Elly Sutra asked the maid: 'What happened to your nose?'
He then told her: 'I did not beat you. Don't say I beat you.'
After the abuse, he called the police. He told officers that his vomit smelled strongly of perfume, and so did the master bedroom where his children were.
He said he suspected that Ms Emi, an Indonesian who had been working for his family for one month, had taught the children - now aged four, two and one - to contaminate his drinking water.
In the two-day trial, Elly Sutra argued that Ms Emi had inflicted the injuries on herself. He said she had used her left hand to hit her own face, while carrying the baby with her right hand.
Dr Ian Jay Basiao Tan, who treated Ms Emi at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital on the day of the incident, testified that in his opinion, the injuries were unlikely to have been self-inflicted.
The prosecution said the evidence presented by Elly Sutra was 'deliberate lies and with a widespread pattern of blaming all and sundry'.
Assistant public prosecutor Lydia Goh also stressed that the accused showed no remorse, paid no compensation, made unfounded allegations and cast aspersions on the maid's character.
In mitigation, the accused, who was not represented, said his wife was the sole breadwinner in the family and he cared for their three young children daily.
He urged the court to impose a fine, and said his children needed him.
His wife, a 29-year-old engineer, pleaded in court on his behalf. She is currently pregnant with their fourth child and said she needed his support.
For voluntarily causing hurt to his domestic helper, he could have been jailed for up to three years and fined up to $7,500.
Man jailed for maid abuse
TODAY, Mar 30, 2012
The court heard yesterday that Elly Sutra Sulaiman accused his maid of poisoning his drinking water and punched her nose and left eye on July 1 last year.
The self-employed man then warned Ms Emi Hayati not to tell anyone he had hit her.
Later that day, Elly kicked the maid twice on her thigh.
For this, he could have been jailed up to three years, fined up to S$5,000, or both.
But the judge took into account that Elly's wife is the sole breadwinner and is now pregnant with their fourth child.
Elly was given eight weeks' jail and ordered to compensate the maid S$1,000.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Housewife sentenced to 13 months in jail for abusing maid
by Alvina Soh
TODAY, Mar 28, 2012
SINGAPORE - A housewife has been sentenced to 13 months' jail for abusing her Indonesian maid for more than four months, resulting in an ear deformity.
Norhanita Sulaiman (picture), 43, was found guilty of three charges of attacking her maid over what Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Norman Yew termed as "trivial reasons". The mother of two burned her maid's face with a heated iron, slapped her and threatened her at knife-point.
The assaults took place in her flat in Geylang between March and June 2010.
The court heard that Norhanita was unhappy with her maid's performance of various household chores.
She threatened to kill the maid with a 12cm knife for forgetting to switch off a thermal flask after use. On another occasion, she placed an iron on her maid's cheek for not ironing clothes properly.
As a result, the 44-year-old maid suffered multiple injuries, including abrasions and scarring.
DPP Yew said the maid also suffered mental abuse as she was instructed by Norhanita to lie to a doctor about the cause of her injuries.
District Judge Liew Thiam Leng noted that the maid was in a vulnerable position when Norhanita abused her authority.
TODAY understands the maid is currently seeking employment in Singapore.
TODAY, Mar 28, 2012
SINGAPORE - A housewife has been sentenced to 13 months' jail for abusing her Indonesian maid for more than four months, resulting in an ear deformity.
Norhanita Sulaiman (picture), 43, was found guilty of three charges of attacking her maid over what Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Norman Yew termed as "trivial reasons". The mother of two burned her maid's face with a heated iron, slapped her and threatened her at knife-point.
The assaults took place in her flat in Geylang between March and June 2010.
The court heard that Norhanita was unhappy with her maid's performance of various household chores.
She threatened to kill the maid with a 12cm knife for forgetting to switch off a thermal flask after use. On another occasion, she placed an iron on her maid's cheek for not ironing clothes properly.
As a result, the 44-year-old maid suffered multiple injuries, including abrasions and scarring.
DPP Yew said the maid also suffered mental abuse as she was instructed by Norhanita to lie to a doctor about the cause of her injuries.
District Judge Liew Thiam Leng noted that the maid was in a vulnerable position when Norhanita abused her authority.
TODAY understands the maid is currently seeking employment in Singapore.
Scuffle in school over student contracts
Straits Times, Published on Mar 28, 2012
By Bryna Sim
Photo caption: Some students from China at SmartTeam School of Management claim they have not received their contracts four months into their course of study. -- ST PHOTO: ASHLEIGH SIM
A FLAP is going on at a private school in Mountbatten Road over the contracts that it was to have issued to its students.
Some students of SmartTeam School of Management (STSOM) from China are claiming that they still do not have this document four months into their course of study, and that they have been fobbed off each time they asked for it.
The parent of one student even flew in from China, and was involved in a scuffle with the school's staff on Monday.
The police had to be called in.
Following that fracas, some students were shown their contract - but it was not the end of the matter, as they have gone on to allege that the document did not seem to be in order.
An 18-year-old male student who declined to be named said: 'Some of the contracts were blank, while others had signatures that were not theirs.'
When contacted, the school's principal Chan Weng Kee said the school was going to give its students copies of their contract next week.
Dr Chan, a Singaporean, said: 'I've no issue giving it to them. It's just that some of them are having exams this week, so we would like to do it after that's done.'
These unhappy students are mostly enrolled in a GCE O-level preparatory course.
Schools like STSOM are required by the Council for Private Education (CPE) regulations to issue each student a copy of the signed document, which states the course fees, fee-payment schedule, refund policy and examination dates.
The contract is binding on both school and student.
Checks with the CPE, the statutory board regulating the private education sector, indicated that STSOM holds a four-year registration until July 2015, which gives it a licence - which is renewable, subject to its meeting the CPE's requirements - to operate.
The school also has a one-year Provisional EduTrust certificate. EduTrust is a quality-assurance scheme a school is required to join in order to enrol international students.
The CPE is looking into this case and has received students' complaints about the school.
Students who spoke to The Straits Times said the matter surfaced a few weeks ago. One of them, aged 17, said his friends in other private schools had already been issued their contracts, and that neither he nor five of his STSOM schoolmates - or even their parents back in China - had this document in hand.
Businesswoman Chen Xiao Hong, 42, one of the parents involved in the scuffle, said in Mandarin: 'I really don't want my son's studies to be affected by all this, so I'm here to sort it out for him.'
Principal Chan said a heated discussion ensued during the meeting on Monday, and that the friend that Madam Chen turned up with attempted to snatch a contract from a member of his staff, who fell when she tried to get it back.
Police confirmed that a dispute broke out in the school, and that both sides were told to keep the peace.
Dr Chan dismissed the students' allegations of 'problems' with the contracts.
'There's no such thing,' he said.
He said he plans to explain to the students the terms and conditions of the contract next week.
He said: 'There have been rumours surrounding the school lately. Some students have asked if we are closing down. For the record, we are not.
'We're a growing school. Sometimes, I wonder if rival private schools are instigating problems.'
By Bryna Sim
A FLAP is going on at a private school in Mountbatten Road over the contracts that it was to have issued to its students.
Some students of SmartTeam School of Management (STSOM) from China are claiming that they still do not have this document four months into their course of study, and that they have been fobbed off each time they asked for it.
The parent of one student even flew in from China, and was involved in a scuffle with the school's staff on Monday.
The police had to be called in.
Following that fracas, some students were shown their contract - but it was not the end of the matter, as they have gone on to allege that the document did not seem to be in order.
An 18-year-old male student who declined to be named said: 'Some of the contracts were blank, while others had signatures that were not theirs.'
When contacted, the school's principal Chan Weng Kee said the school was going to give its students copies of their contract next week.
Dr Chan, a Singaporean, said: 'I've no issue giving it to them. It's just that some of them are having exams this week, so we would like to do it after that's done.'
These unhappy students are mostly enrolled in a GCE O-level preparatory course.
Schools like STSOM are required by the Council for Private Education (CPE) regulations to issue each student a copy of the signed document, which states the course fees, fee-payment schedule, refund policy and examination dates.
The contract is binding on both school and student.
Checks with the CPE, the statutory board regulating the private education sector, indicated that STSOM holds a four-year registration until July 2015, which gives it a licence - which is renewable, subject to its meeting the CPE's requirements - to operate.
The school also has a one-year Provisional EduTrust certificate. EduTrust is a quality-assurance scheme a school is required to join in order to enrol international students.
The CPE is looking into this case and has received students' complaints about the school.
Students who spoke to The Straits Times said the matter surfaced a few weeks ago. One of them, aged 17, said his friends in other private schools had already been issued their contracts, and that neither he nor five of his STSOM schoolmates - or even their parents back in China - had this document in hand.
Businesswoman Chen Xiao Hong, 42, one of the parents involved in the scuffle, said in Mandarin: 'I really don't want my son's studies to be affected by all this, so I'm here to sort it out for him.'
Principal Chan said a heated discussion ensued during the meeting on Monday, and that the friend that Madam Chen turned up with attempted to snatch a contract from a member of his staff, who fell when she tried to get it back.
Police confirmed that a dispute broke out in the school, and that both sides were told to keep the peace.
Dr Chan dismissed the students' allegations of 'problems' with the contracts.
'There's no such thing,' he said.
He said he plans to explain to the students the terms and conditions of the contract next week.
He said: 'There have been rumours surrounding the school lately. Some students have asked if we are closing down. For the record, we are not.
'We're a growing school. Sometimes, I wonder if rival private schools are instigating problems.'
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
When firms can retain foreign workers for longer
TODAY, Mar 27, 2012
SINGAPORE - The Government will take up two proposals brought up during the Budget debate earlier this month to give more breathing room for employers when it comes to hiring foreign workers.
This comes after the ratio ceiling for hiring foreign workers was lowered in this year's Budget - to the dismay of employers, some of whom felt the move was too harsh in a time of economic uncertainty and a tight labour market.
From July, the maximum period of employment (POE) for unskilled Work Permit Holders from China and non-traditional source countries - such as Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand - will be extended from the current six years to 10 years for all sectors, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in a statement yesterday.
It will also carry out a pilot in the hotel industry in the second half of this year to allow businesses more flexibility in deploying their existing foreign workers across job duties.
During the Budget debate, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam had said the Government would be reviewing policies on the deployment of foreign workers as there had been requests for "flexibility" from employers.
Suggested by Members of Parliament Ang Wei Neng and Tin Pei Ling during the Budget debate, the extension in POE will allow employers to retain workers who are well-trained and experienced and spare them the expense and effort of training a new worker from scratch.
"It also has a positive impact on safety and socialisation considerations," said Minister of State for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin in a blog post on the announcements yesterday.
The MOM stressed the extension will not lead to an increase in WP holders in Singapore as businesses are still required to keep within their sectoral Dependency Ratio Ceilings.
As for letting foreign workers move between job functions, while the MOM has been "strict" about doing so, it noted that, in industries like hotels and F&B, the staff could be used for other functions when there is the capacity to do so, which could "translate into a meaningful boost in efficiency". If successful, the pilot could be later extended to other service industries.
While effective governance includes gathering feedback from all quarters and, where possible, making adjustments to ensure policies are flexible and responsive to the changing business landscape, Mr Tan said the Government strives to keep Singaporeans at the core of our workforce, local businesses at the core of our policies, and help them upgrade and improve their productivity.
Calling on Singaporeans to continue sharing views with the Government, Mr Tan said: "Co-creating our policies can take place in many forms. While we may not always be able to adopt all ideas, we will definitely consider ideas which will improve the quality of life for Singaporeans."
SINGAPORE - The Government will take up two proposals brought up during the Budget debate earlier this month to give more breathing room for employers when it comes to hiring foreign workers.
This comes after the ratio ceiling for hiring foreign workers was lowered in this year's Budget - to the dismay of employers, some of whom felt the move was too harsh in a time of economic uncertainty and a tight labour market.
From July, the maximum period of employment (POE) for unskilled Work Permit Holders from China and non-traditional source countries - such as Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand - will be extended from the current six years to 10 years for all sectors, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in a statement yesterday.
It will also carry out a pilot in the hotel industry in the second half of this year to allow businesses more flexibility in deploying their existing foreign workers across job duties.
During the Budget debate, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam had said the Government would be reviewing policies on the deployment of foreign workers as there had been requests for "flexibility" from employers.
Suggested by Members of Parliament Ang Wei Neng and Tin Pei Ling during the Budget debate, the extension in POE will allow employers to retain workers who are well-trained and experienced and spare them the expense and effort of training a new worker from scratch.
"It also has a positive impact on safety and socialisation considerations," said Minister of State for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin in a blog post on the announcements yesterday.
The MOM stressed the extension will not lead to an increase in WP holders in Singapore as businesses are still required to keep within their sectoral Dependency Ratio Ceilings.
As for letting foreign workers move between job functions, while the MOM has been "strict" about doing so, it noted that, in industries like hotels and F&B, the staff could be used for other functions when there is the capacity to do so, which could "translate into a meaningful boost in efficiency". If successful, the pilot could be later extended to other service industries.
While effective governance includes gathering feedback from all quarters and, where possible, making adjustments to ensure policies are flexible and responsive to the changing business landscape, Mr Tan said the Government strives to keep Singaporeans at the core of our workforce, local businesses at the core of our policies, and help them upgrade and improve their productivity.
Calling on Singaporeans to continue sharing views with the Government, Mr Tan said: "Co-creating our policies can take place in many forms. While we may not always be able to adopt all ideas, we will definitely consider ideas which will improve the quality of life for Singaporeans."
Agent jailed for falsifying S-Pass holders' salaries
Straits Times, Published on Mar 27, 2012
By Janice Heng
FOR the first time, an employment agent has been jailed for helping an employer lie about his S-Pass holders' salaries.
As an employment agent, Singapore permanent resident Shokkanarayanan Ramakrishnan, 43, knew that a minimum salary was required for a foreign worker to be eligible for an S-Pass.
The minimum qualifying monthly salary for this mid-skilled pass was raised to $2,000 last July, from $1,800.
Yet, on four occasions from 2009 to 2010, Ramakrishnan approached the same employer and advised them to declare false monthly salaries for four S-Pass holders.
He also helped to prepare and submit the S-Pass applications, and tried to fool investigators by preparing fake payslips.
For these offences, the former employment agent of Islets Solutions was yesterday sentenced to four weeks' imprisonment in the Subordinate Courts.
Employers falsely declare salaries to get S-Passes in order to save on monthly levies, which are lower for S-Pass holders than for Work Permit holders.
On March 14, he had been convicted of four charges of intentionally aiding an employer to falsely over-declare the monthly salaries of four S-Pass holders in their S-Pass application and declaration forms.
Under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA), someone who makes a false declaration in a work pass application can be fined up to $15,000, be jailed for up to 12 months, or both.
Ramakrishnan's employment agent licence was revoked on Oct 24 last year and his security deposit forfeited.
He is now on bail pending appeal.
Earlier this month, two cases involving Singaporean employers falsely declaring S-Pass holders' salaries were also heard in court.
On March 22, sole proprietor of Pedal Works Ong Ai Geok, 59, was fined a total of $15,000.
Apart from false declaration of S-Pass holders' salaries, her offences included the unlawful deduction of financial guarantees from workers and failure to pay S-Pass holders' salaries via Giro.
She had paid their salaries in cash instead, which is a breach of Work Pass regulations and an offence under the EFMA.
In the second case, director of World Track Agencies Able Chan Fung Cheung, 55, was fined $19,500.
Chan pleaded guilty to a total of six charges for false declaration of an S-Pass holder's salary and failure to pay the S-Pass holder's salary via Giro.
Last year, 78 employers were prosecuted and convicted for false declaration offences.
By Janice Heng
FOR the first time, an employment agent has been jailed for helping an employer lie about his S-Pass holders' salaries.
As an employment agent, Singapore permanent resident Shokkanarayanan Ramakrishnan, 43, knew that a minimum salary was required for a foreign worker to be eligible for an S-Pass.
The minimum qualifying monthly salary for this mid-skilled pass was raised to $2,000 last July, from $1,800.
Yet, on four occasions from 2009 to 2010, Ramakrishnan approached the same employer and advised them to declare false monthly salaries for four S-Pass holders.
He also helped to prepare and submit the S-Pass applications, and tried to fool investigators by preparing fake payslips.
For these offences, the former employment agent of Islets Solutions was yesterday sentenced to four weeks' imprisonment in the Subordinate Courts.
Employers falsely declare salaries to get S-Passes in order to save on monthly levies, which are lower for S-Pass holders than for Work Permit holders.
On March 14, he had been convicted of four charges of intentionally aiding an employer to falsely over-declare the monthly salaries of four S-Pass holders in their S-Pass application and declaration forms.
Under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA), someone who makes a false declaration in a work pass application can be fined up to $15,000, be jailed for up to 12 months, or both.
Ramakrishnan's employment agent licence was revoked on Oct 24 last year and his security deposit forfeited.
He is now on bail pending appeal.
Earlier this month, two cases involving Singaporean employers falsely declaring S-Pass holders' salaries were also heard in court.
On March 22, sole proprietor of Pedal Works Ong Ai Geok, 59, was fined a total of $15,000.
Apart from false declaration of S-Pass holders' salaries, her offences included the unlawful deduction of financial guarantees from workers and failure to pay S-Pass holders' salaries via Giro.
She had paid their salaries in cash instead, which is a breach of Work Pass regulations and an offence under the EFMA.
In the second case, director of World Track Agencies Able Chan Fung Cheung, 55, was fined $19,500.
Chan pleaded guilty to a total of six charges for false declaration of an S-Pass holder's salary and failure to pay the S-Pass holder's salary via Giro.
Last year, 78 employers were prosecuted and convicted for false declaration offences.
Unskilled workers will get to stay on longer
Maximum employment period being extended to 10 years
Straits Times, Published on Mar 27, 2012
By Janice Heng & Toh Yong Chuan
FROM July 1, companies will be able to employ unskilled foreign workers for longer.
Now, unskilled Work Permit holders from non-traditional sources - Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand - and China can be employed for up to six years.
But this will be extended to 10 years for all sectors, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in a statement yesterday.
The move is in response to calls by some Members of Parliament during the recent Budget debate, as well as feedback from industries.
MOM said many companies have asked for such an extension to help them keep workers who are trained, experienced, and thus more productive.
Dr Ho Nyok Yong, president of the Singapore Contractors Association, welcomed the move, for which the association has lobbied for some time.
It will benefit all construction companies as they rely on unskilled non-traditional source workers, he said.
In a blog post on the measures, Minister of State for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin said that retaining well-trained and experienced foreign workers 'would increase a company's productivity, as it would spare them from having to re-hire and re-train another foreign worker'.
Association of Small and Medium Enterprises president Chan Chong Beng agreed, noting that companies would also save on hiring and training costs.
He said the extension will provide more stability and certainty for SMEs, which have fewer staff and hence rely more heavily on long-serving foreign workers.
Dr Ho said: 'There are good unskilled workers. They are good in their work, but maybe cannot pass the exams - that is why they remain unskilled.
'For companies, some of these are still good workers whom they want to keep.'
MOM said the extension will not lead to an increase of unskilled workers, as companies must still keep within dependency ratio ceilings - the maximum share of foreign workers in a firm's workforce.
The maximum employment period for skilled Work Permit holders from non-traditional source countries or China remains the same, at 18 years.
There is no limit on how long other Work Permit holders - from Malaysia and North Asian sources - and foreign domestic workers can be employed.
Allowing companies to keep foreign workers for longer is one of two moves to give them more flexibility.
Yesterday, MOM also announced that hotels will soon be able to deploy foreign workers across different job roles.
In the Budget debate earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam had said that the Government was studying both moves, even as it tightened restrictions on foreign labour.
He noted feedback from companies and business associations that some flexibility would boost efficiency in, for instance, hotels and restaurants.
In a pilot run, restrictions will be relaxed in the hotel sector. If successful, this could be extended to other service industries.
MOM will work with tripartite partners to set the criteria and conditions for this pilot, and aims to implement it by the second half of this year.
Straits Times, Published on Mar 27, 2012
By Janice Heng & Toh Yong Chuan
FROM July 1, companies will be able to employ unskilled foreign workers for longer.
Now, unskilled Work Permit holders from non-traditional sources - Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand - and China can be employed for up to six years.
But this will be extended to 10 years for all sectors, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in a statement yesterday.
The move is in response to calls by some Members of Parliament during the recent Budget debate, as well as feedback from industries.
MOM said many companies have asked for such an extension to help them keep workers who are trained, experienced, and thus more productive.
Dr Ho Nyok Yong, president of the Singapore Contractors Association, welcomed the move, for which the association has lobbied for some time.
It will benefit all construction companies as they rely on unskilled non-traditional source workers, he said.
In a blog post on the measures, Minister of State for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin said that retaining well-trained and experienced foreign workers 'would increase a company's productivity, as it would spare them from having to re-hire and re-train another foreign worker'.
Association of Small and Medium Enterprises president Chan Chong Beng agreed, noting that companies would also save on hiring and training costs.
He said the extension will provide more stability and certainty for SMEs, which have fewer staff and hence rely more heavily on long-serving foreign workers.
Dr Ho said: 'There are good unskilled workers. They are good in their work, but maybe cannot pass the exams - that is why they remain unskilled.
'For companies, some of these are still good workers whom they want to keep.'
MOM said the extension will not lead to an increase of unskilled workers, as companies must still keep within dependency ratio ceilings - the maximum share of foreign workers in a firm's workforce.
The maximum employment period for skilled Work Permit holders from non-traditional source countries or China remains the same, at 18 years.
There is no limit on how long other Work Permit holders - from Malaysia and North Asian sources - and foreign domestic workers can be employed.
Allowing companies to keep foreign workers for longer is one of two moves to give them more flexibility.
Yesterday, MOM also announced that hotels will soon be able to deploy foreign workers across different job roles.
In the Budget debate earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam had said that the Government was studying both moves, even as it tightened restrictions on foreign labour.
He noted feedback from companies and business associations that some flexibility would boost efficiency in, for instance, hotels and restaurants.
In a pilot run, restrictions will be relaxed in the hotel sector. If successful, this could be extended to other service industries.
MOM will work with tripartite partners to set the criteria and conditions for this pilot, and aims to implement it by the second half of this year.
Private business school cleared of flouting rules
Straits Times, Published on Mar 27, 2012
THE first private school to be taken to court last year for allegedly flouting Council for Private Education (CPE) rules has been acquitted.
Cambridge Business School's three former managers were also granted a discharge amounting to an acquittal last Friday after the prosecution applied for the order.
The private school, which is no longer in operation, had been accused of running a pre-master's course without written permission from the CPE in 2010.
Former managers Tan Cheng Hoe, 49, Tan Cheng San, 47 - both brothers - and Guo Qiaoli, 49, were cleared of failing to keep proper records.
A CPE statement yesterday said they had admitted to failing in their duty as managers of a private education institution in keeping proper student records. They were issued with a stern warning a week ago.
THE first private school to be taken to court last year for allegedly flouting Council for Private Education (CPE) rules has been acquitted.
Cambridge Business School's three former managers were also granted a discharge amounting to an acquittal last Friday after the prosecution applied for the order.
The private school, which is no longer in operation, had been accused of running a pre-master's course without written permission from the CPE in 2010.
Former managers Tan Cheng Hoe, 49, Tan Cheng San, 47 - both brothers - and Guo Qiaoli, 49, were cleared of failing to keep proper records.
A CPE statement yesterday said they had admitted to failing in their duty as managers of a private education institution in keeping proper student records. They were issued with a stern warning a week ago.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Where have the cleaners gone?
Food centre's shortage of cleaners highlights wider manpower issue
Straits Times, Published on Mar 26, 2012
By Carolyn Khew and Amelia Tan Hui Fang
WHILE hawkers are happy that the upgraded Bukit Merah View cooked-food centre has drawn more customers since it reopened on March 1, they are upset that the tables are not being cleared fast enough.
The situation has arisen because of a shortage of cleaners. Seven days ago, the cleaning contractor lost half its workers.
Ms Mala Subramaimam, the contractor's operations manager, said the reasons given by those who quit were illness and inability to get along with co-workers.
While she has beefed up the team to 10 cleaners now after recruitment efforts were made, she admits that she needs another three.
She said it is hard to find workers because of the long hours, with some shifts lasting 12 hours. The cleaners are paid hourly and can earn up to $850 a month.
Even as the Government plans to build hawker centres in seven towns over the next five years, the shortage of cleaners in such facilities has often been highlighted by members of the public in online forums and letters to the press.
Suggestions have ranged from raising the pay to draw more people to the job, to finding ways to boost productivity, to appealing to consumers to leave less mess behind for cleaners to mop up.
According to Mr Anthony Teo, secretary of Bukit Merah View Merchants and Hawkers Committee, the problem of hiring cleaners is not uncommon among food centres here, with the more crowded ones facing a higher turnover of workers.
'It's a very demanding job especially during peak hours. Cleaners tend to leave after a while unless the hawker centre has moderate business and the job is not so tiring,' he added.
Pay could also determine how committed they are.
The committee had received quotations from cleaning companies 11/2 months before the food centre's reopening. The low price was one of the reasons the contract was offered to Ms Subramaimam's company.
'Most hawkers told us to look for cheap and good cleaners because they also want to keep costs low,' said Mr Teo.
At the Bukit Merah View centre, the cleaner's job is to return used crockery and cutlery to the respective stalls after cleaning the tables.
The centre has 84 stalls.
According to Ms Subramaimam, even though work flow has received a boost from the 10 workers now, it is still difficult for them to cope. The job can get trying during peak hours, especially if the stalls are far away from the tables.
She said: 'It gets very busy for us. By the time the cleaners are cleaning their third table, the first table they cleaned gets dirtied again. People can't expect us to clean their tables immediately.'
There are now more tables and seats at the food centre after a revamp under the Hawker Centres Upgrading Programme run by the National Environment Agency.
Since the reopening, Mr Teo said he has noted a 20 per cent increase in customer traffic. This makes it more urgent for tables to be cleaned at a quicker pace.
While hawkers feel that the situation has improved, there are still shortcomings. 'The cleaners are very slow as they are not familiar with how to keep the plates. It's hard to clean the plates and serve customers at the same time but we have no choice,' said Mr Tong Ai Lan, 52, who owns a mixed rice stall.
During the busy lunch hour, cleaners tend to wait till their trolleys are full before returning used items to the stalls.
Some hawkers have had to clear the tables themselves so that they are not short of bowls and cutlery.
A prawn-noodle seller, who wanted to be known only as Mr Ng, 35, said: 'We must pay for cleaning yet we still clear the tables ourselves. It's troublesome.'
Stall owners pay $9.50 daily for the cleaning service.
Customers have noted the less-than-perfect situation.
Regular patron Chiang Kong Leng, 65, a retiree, said: 'I do see tables with bowls and plates where no one clears them for one to two hours. It's unhygienic because the food attracts the birds and this can bring germs.'
****
CONTRACTOR SAYS
'It gets very busy for us. By the time the cleaners are cleaning their third table, the first table they cleaned gets dirtied again. People can't expect us to clean their tables immediately.'
Ms Mala Subramaimam, the contractor's operations manager
HAWKER SAYS
'The cleaners are very slow as they are not familiar with how to keep the plates. It's hard to clean the plates and serve customers at the same time but we have no choice.'
Mr Tong Ai Lan, who owns a mixed rice stall
MANAGEMENT SAYS
'It's a very demanding job especially during peak hours. Cleaners tend to leave after a while, unless the hawker centre has moderate business and the job is not so tiring.'
Mr Anthony Teo, secretary of Bukit Merah View Merchants and Hawkers Committee, noting that there has been a 20 per cent increase in customer traffic
Straits Times, Published on Mar 26, 2012
By Carolyn Khew and Amelia Tan Hui Fang
WHILE hawkers are happy that the upgraded Bukit Merah View cooked-food centre has drawn more customers since it reopened on March 1, they are upset that the tables are not being cleared fast enough.
The situation has arisen because of a shortage of cleaners. Seven days ago, the cleaning contractor lost half its workers.
Ms Mala Subramaimam, the contractor's operations manager, said the reasons given by those who quit were illness and inability to get along with co-workers.
While she has beefed up the team to 10 cleaners now after recruitment efforts were made, she admits that she needs another three.
She said it is hard to find workers because of the long hours, with some shifts lasting 12 hours. The cleaners are paid hourly and can earn up to $850 a month.
Even as the Government plans to build hawker centres in seven towns over the next five years, the shortage of cleaners in such facilities has often been highlighted by members of the public in online forums and letters to the press.
Suggestions have ranged from raising the pay to draw more people to the job, to finding ways to boost productivity, to appealing to consumers to leave less mess behind for cleaners to mop up.
According to Mr Anthony Teo, secretary of Bukit Merah View Merchants and Hawkers Committee, the problem of hiring cleaners is not uncommon among food centres here, with the more crowded ones facing a higher turnover of workers.
'It's a very demanding job especially during peak hours. Cleaners tend to leave after a while unless the hawker centre has moderate business and the job is not so tiring,' he added.
Pay could also determine how committed they are.
The committee had received quotations from cleaning companies 11/2 months before the food centre's reopening. The low price was one of the reasons the contract was offered to Ms Subramaimam's company.
'Most hawkers told us to look for cheap and good cleaners because they also want to keep costs low,' said Mr Teo.
At the Bukit Merah View centre, the cleaner's job is to return used crockery and cutlery to the respective stalls after cleaning the tables.
The centre has 84 stalls.
According to Ms Subramaimam, even though work flow has received a boost from the 10 workers now, it is still difficult for them to cope. The job can get trying during peak hours, especially if the stalls are far away from the tables.
She said: 'It gets very busy for us. By the time the cleaners are cleaning their third table, the first table they cleaned gets dirtied again. People can't expect us to clean their tables immediately.'
There are now more tables and seats at the food centre after a revamp under the Hawker Centres Upgrading Programme run by the National Environment Agency.
Since the reopening, Mr Teo said he has noted a 20 per cent increase in customer traffic. This makes it more urgent for tables to be cleaned at a quicker pace.
While hawkers feel that the situation has improved, there are still shortcomings. 'The cleaners are very slow as they are not familiar with how to keep the plates. It's hard to clean the plates and serve customers at the same time but we have no choice,' said Mr Tong Ai Lan, 52, who owns a mixed rice stall.
During the busy lunch hour, cleaners tend to wait till their trolleys are full before returning used items to the stalls.
Some hawkers have had to clear the tables themselves so that they are not short of bowls and cutlery.
A prawn-noodle seller, who wanted to be known only as Mr Ng, 35, said: 'We must pay for cleaning yet we still clear the tables ourselves. It's troublesome.'
Stall owners pay $9.50 daily for the cleaning service.
Customers have noted the less-than-perfect situation.
Regular patron Chiang Kong Leng, 65, a retiree, said: 'I do see tables with bowls and plates where no one clears them for one to two hours. It's unhygienic because the food attracts the birds and this can bring germs.'
****
CONTRACTOR SAYS
'It gets very busy for us. By the time the cleaners are cleaning their third table, the first table they cleaned gets dirtied again. People can't expect us to clean their tables immediately.'
Ms Mala Subramaimam, the contractor's operations manager
HAWKER SAYS
'The cleaners are very slow as they are not familiar with how to keep the plates. It's hard to clean the plates and serve customers at the same time but we have no choice.'
Mr Tong Ai Lan, who owns a mixed rice stall
MANAGEMENT SAYS
'It's a very demanding job especially during peak hours. Cleaners tend to leave after a while, unless the hawker centre has moderate business and the job is not so tiring.'
Mr Anthony Teo, secretary of Bukit Merah View Merchants and Hawkers Committee, noting that there has been a 20 per cent increase in customer traffic
Friday, March 23, 2012
Woman suspect arrested for selling fake student IDs
CNA, Posted: 23 March 2012 1159 hrs
SINGAPORE: Police arrested a 47-year-old woman suspected of selling fake foreign student identification cards.
On 18 March, police received information about a printing shop at Bencoolen Street that was reportedly selling fake student cards.
The next day, police officers raided the place and arrested the shop owner.
Various templates of foreign student cards which were believed to have been forged were found in the shop's computer system.
Printing-related items, including a computer, a cutter, some plastic lamination cards and nine counterfeit student identification cards were seized.
Police said early investigations revealed that the suspect provided printing services and sale of counterfeit student identification cards for a price of between S$25 and S$65.
Investigations against the suspect are ongoing.
- CNA/ck
SINGAPORE: Police arrested a 47-year-old woman suspected of selling fake foreign student identification cards.
On 18 March, police received information about a printing shop at Bencoolen Street that was reportedly selling fake student cards.
The next day, police officers raided the place and arrested the shop owner.
Various templates of foreign student cards which were believed to have been forged were found in the shop's computer system.
Printing-related items, including a computer, a cutter, some plastic lamination cards and nine counterfeit student identification cards were seized.
Police said early investigations revealed that the suspect provided printing services and sale of counterfeit student identification cards for a price of between S$25 and S$65.
Investigations against the suspect are ongoing.
- CNA/ck
Maid may get longer sentence
Prosecution appeals against 10-year term for killing employer
Straits Times, Published on Mar 23, 2012
By K.C. VIJAYAN
INDONESIAN maid Vitria Wahyuni, who was jailed 10 years for strangling her 87-year-old employer, may get a heavier term.
This possibility has arisen after prosecutors filed an appeal against the sentence earlier this week.
Vitria had pleaded guilty in the High Court earlier this month to culpable homicide for the death of Madam Sng Gek Wah on Nov 25, 2009, at the latter's terrace house in Serangoon Gardens.
The maid, aged 16 then, was just four days into the job.
The court was told then that she was angry with Madam Sng who had chided her for even small lapses at work. She had used a pillow to suffocate the woman who was asleep but when she struggled, Vitria strangled her.
Prosecutors during the High Court hearing had urged the court to consider at least a 20-year jail term, claiming Vitria had killed deliberately and 'with premeditation, as opposed to a situation in which it was done on the spur of the moment, in 'hot blood''.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Christina Koh said the nature of the injuries inflicted on Madam Sng showed a 'cruel streak' on Vitria's part.
Justice Choo Han Teck, in decision grounds, took into account Vitria's lot - she was poor, harshly treated, young and impulsive.
Her defence lawyer Mohd Muzammil Mohd had, among other things, pointed to her father who had lied and got her a false passport with a false name and declared her to be aged 23.
She was already a divorcee and a mother of one when she came here to work to pay for her father's medical treatment.
The maximum punishment for culpable homicide has been raised to 20 years' jail or life imprisonment - up from 10 years' jail or life before 2007.
The case before the Court of Appeal could turn on this change and lead to new guidelines on sentencing being set by the apex court for a case of this nature.
Justice Choo acknowledged that the law had been changed to increase the maximum sentence for her crime to 20 years.
But he made it clear that Vitria's case did not merit a higher sentence although 'it may be so in the appropriate case'.
Straits Times, Published on Mar 23, 2012
By K.C. VIJAYAN
INDONESIAN maid Vitria Wahyuni, who was jailed 10 years for strangling her 87-year-old employer, may get a heavier term.
This possibility has arisen after prosecutors filed an appeal against the sentence earlier this week.
Vitria had pleaded guilty in the High Court earlier this month to culpable homicide for the death of Madam Sng Gek Wah on Nov 25, 2009, at the latter's terrace house in Serangoon Gardens.
The maid, aged 16 then, was just four days into the job.
The court was told then that she was angry with Madam Sng who had chided her for even small lapses at work. She had used a pillow to suffocate the woman who was asleep but when she struggled, Vitria strangled her.
Prosecutors during the High Court hearing had urged the court to consider at least a 20-year jail term, claiming Vitria had killed deliberately and 'with premeditation, as opposed to a situation in which it was done on the spur of the moment, in 'hot blood''.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Christina Koh said the nature of the injuries inflicted on Madam Sng showed a 'cruel streak' on Vitria's part.
Justice Choo Han Teck, in decision grounds, took into account Vitria's lot - she was poor, harshly treated, young and impulsive.
Her defence lawyer Mohd Muzammil Mohd had, among other things, pointed to her father who had lied and got her a false passport with a false name and declared her to be aged 23.
She was already a divorcee and a mother of one when she came here to work to pay for her father's medical treatment.
The maximum punishment for culpable homicide has been raised to 20 years' jail or life imprisonment - up from 10 years' jail or life before 2007.
The case before the Court of Appeal could turn on this change and lead to new guidelines on sentencing being set by the apex court for a case of this nature.
Justice Choo acknowledged that the law had been changed to increase the maximum sentence for her crime to 20 years.
But he made it clear that Vitria's case did not merit a higher sentence although 'it may be so in the appropriate case'.
Bosses must pay foreign workers' medical bills
Straits Times, Forum, Published on Mar 23, 2012
WE THANK Mr Jeffrey Law for his letter ('Offer basic medical care to foreign workers'; March 14). Under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, employers are responsible for and must bear the costs of the provision of any necessary medical treatment that workers require.
To assist employers in discharging their responsibility of bearing the medical expenses of their S Pass and work permit holders (including foreign domestic workers), all employers are required to purchase and maintain medical insurance coverage of at least $15,000 per year for the worker's inpatient care and day surgery.
The medical insurance provides cover for the foreign workers' medical expenses, including hospital bills arising from treatment for causes that may not be work-related.
The coverage was set at the said amount to keep premiums affordable for employers, while providing sufficient coverage for the majority of the foreign workers' hospitalisation bills.
If you know of employers who do not take responsibility for their foreign workers' medical expenses, you should inform the ministry as soon as possible at mom_fmmd@mom.gov.sg. All information will be kept strictly confidential.
Farah Abdul Rahim (Ms)
Director, Corporate Communications
Ministry of Manpower
WE THANK Mr Jeffrey Law for his letter ('Offer basic medical care to foreign workers'; March 14). Under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, employers are responsible for and must bear the costs of the provision of any necessary medical treatment that workers require.
To assist employers in discharging their responsibility of bearing the medical expenses of their S Pass and work permit holders (including foreign domestic workers), all employers are required to purchase and maintain medical insurance coverage of at least $15,000 per year for the worker's inpatient care and day surgery.
The medical insurance provides cover for the foreign workers' medical expenses, including hospital bills arising from treatment for causes that may not be work-related.
The coverage was set at the said amount to keep premiums affordable for employers, while providing sufficient coverage for the majority of the foreign workers' hospitalisation bills.
If you know of employers who do not take responsibility for their foreign workers' medical expenses, you should inform the ministry as soon as possible at mom_fmmd@mom.gov.sg. All information will be kept strictly confidential.
Farah Abdul Rahim (Ms)
Director, Corporate Communications
Ministry of Manpower
Thursday, March 22, 2012
New plan to tackle human trafficking
by Esther Ng
TODAY, Mar 22, 2012
SINGAPORE - A hotline for trafficked persons to get help or report offences. Specialised enforcement teams to combat sex and labour trafficking, with 10,000 frontline police officers to be trained to identify trafficked persons. A review of current laws to address the issue of human trafficking.
These are some of the measures to be rolled out, as the Government launched its National Plan of Action (NPA) against Trafficking in Persons (TIP) yesterday. This comes after a three-month long consultation with various stakeholders such as non-government agencies and foreign governments.
The plan signals that the Government is committed to fighting trafficking in persons "more holistically, more strategically and more effectively", said Minister of State (Manpower) Tan Chuan-Jin at yesterday's launch.
Significantly, the new initiative is a shift from an offence-centric approach to a victim-centred one. Currently, victims of human trafficking are often seen as law breakers and penalised for over-staying or breaching the terms of their visit pass, said non-profit organisation Transient Workers Count Too's immediate past president John Gee and UN Women Singapore's head of trafficking committee Saleemah Ismail.
Going forward, those found to be victims of human trafficking will be treated as such. The police are currently training their officers to identify trafficked persons so as to detect potential cases early. For instance, they are taught to ask victims if they or their family have been threatened with harm if they tried to escape, or if they were intimidated into performing sexual acts. The aim is to train 10,000 frontline officers by 2015.
"We will also strengthen the case referral mechanism and explore setting up a TIP hotline," said Mr Tan.
There will also be a review on the adequacy of current shelter facilities - recommendations will be up by next year - and specialised enforcement teams to combat sex and labour trafficking will be set up by end next year, he added.
Current laws are being reviewed. One of the ideas under consideration is whether there should be a dedicated law on human trafficking. This review is expected to be completed by December next year.
NGOs hailed the positive move involving various government agencies but said there were still areas to overcome.
Mr Gee felt that the training of police officers could be halved to two years, instead of four, and called for a shelter for sexually trafficked persons with a "dedicated social worker trained to deal with exploitation cases on site".
Other measures needed include providing TIP victims with legal and financial assistance either directly, or allowing TIP victims to work while assisting with investigations regardless whether the victim agrees to be a prosecution witness or not, Ms Saleemah said.
NGOs including the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics and the Singapore Council of Women's Organisation called for a specific anti-human trafficking law as they felt current provisions were too "piecemeal" under the Women's Charter, Children and Young Persons Act and the Penal Code.
Mr Tan acknowledged yesterday that the NPA was "meant to be a high-level strategic document", that the taskforce "might not have been able to incorporate" some of the more specific or detailed proposals. "However, your inputs are still valuable and will be considered by the implementation teams when carrying out the initiatives."
Last year, the police received 43 reports of alleged sex trafficking, and investigations are still ongoing for most of the cases. In 2010, the police investigated 50 alleged cases of sex trafficking - seven of them were successfully investigated, while the remainder had no viable leads for the police to pursue or the perpetrators were no longer in Singapore. In 2009, 32 cases were investigated and two were prosecuted .
There were 67 cases which had elements of labour trafficking last year and investigations are ongoing.
TODAY, Mar 22, 2012
SINGAPORE - A hotline for trafficked persons to get help or report offences. Specialised enforcement teams to combat sex and labour trafficking, with 10,000 frontline police officers to be trained to identify trafficked persons. A review of current laws to address the issue of human trafficking.
These are some of the measures to be rolled out, as the Government launched its National Plan of Action (NPA) against Trafficking in Persons (TIP) yesterday. This comes after a three-month long consultation with various stakeholders such as non-government agencies and foreign governments.
The plan signals that the Government is committed to fighting trafficking in persons "more holistically, more strategically and more effectively", said Minister of State (Manpower) Tan Chuan-Jin at yesterday's launch.
Significantly, the new initiative is a shift from an offence-centric approach to a victim-centred one. Currently, victims of human trafficking are often seen as law breakers and penalised for over-staying or breaching the terms of their visit pass, said non-profit organisation Transient Workers Count Too's immediate past president John Gee and UN Women Singapore's head of trafficking committee Saleemah Ismail.
Going forward, those found to be victims of human trafficking will be treated as such. The police are currently training their officers to identify trafficked persons so as to detect potential cases early. For instance, they are taught to ask victims if they or their family have been threatened with harm if they tried to escape, or if they were intimidated into performing sexual acts. The aim is to train 10,000 frontline officers by 2015.
"We will also strengthen the case referral mechanism and explore setting up a TIP hotline," said Mr Tan.
There will also be a review on the adequacy of current shelter facilities - recommendations will be up by next year - and specialised enforcement teams to combat sex and labour trafficking will be set up by end next year, he added.
Current laws are being reviewed. One of the ideas under consideration is whether there should be a dedicated law on human trafficking. This review is expected to be completed by December next year.
NGOs hailed the positive move involving various government agencies but said there were still areas to overcome.
Mr Gee felt that the training of police officers could be halved to two years, instead of four, and called for a shelter for sexually trafficked persons with a "dedicated social worker trained to deal with exploitation cases on site".
Other measures needed include providing TIP victims with legal and financial assistance either directly, or allowing TIP victims to work while assisting with investigations regardless whether the victim agrees to be a prosecution witness or not, Ms Saleemah said.
NGOs including the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics and the Singapore Council of Women's Organisation called for a specific anti-human trafficking law as they felt current provisions were too "piecemeal" under the Women's Charter, Children and Young Persons Act and the Penal Code.
Mr Tan acknowledged yesterday that the NPA was "meant to be a high-level strategic document", that the taskforce "might not have been able to incorporate" some of the more specific or detailed proposals. "However, your inputs are still valuable and will be considered by the implementation teams when carrying out the initiatives."
Last year, the police received 43 reports of alleged sex trafficking, and investigations are still ongoing for most of the cases. In 2010, the police investigated 50 alleged cases of sex trafficking - seven of them were successfully investigated, while the remainder had no viable leads for the police to pursue or the perpetrators were no longer in Singapore. In 2009, 32 cases were investigated and two were prosecuted .
There were 67 cases which had elements of labour trafficking last year and investigations are ongoing.
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