April 27, 2009 AFP article
Workers protest against unpaid wages in Singapore
SINGAPORE - More than 100 construction workers from China gathered outside Singapore's manpower ministry Monday to complain about unpaid wages and cancellation of their work permits, witnesses said.
The workers sat for about two hours at the steps of the ministry, at a busy intersection near the Chinatown district, and shouted at ministry officials and police officers to air their grievances.
There was no violence, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
At one point, police warned the workers to disperse within five minutes or face arrest. They left but regrouped across a road from the ministry, and voluntarily dispersed about an hour later.
Workers interviewed by AFP said they had not been paid their wages after their Chinese 'boss' absconded with the money. They also complained that their work permits had been cancelled without warning.
Comment from the manpower ministry on the workers' complaints was not immediately available.
Some of the workers told officials that they had not committed any crime and could not be arrested, but police told them they were illegally trespassing on government property.
'The government should punish the company, not punish us by cancelling our permits. We just want our compensation so we can go back to China,' construction worker Zhou Qing Ren, 40, told AFP.
'We have got no money to eat now and no proper place to stay,' another worker shouted.
Singapore is tightening its rules on outdoor protests as it prepares to host its largest international summit, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' forum, in November.
Analysts said the laws against outdoor protests can also be applied to deal with any outbreaks of public frustration amid the city-state's worst recession in more than 40 years.
An estimated one million foreigners live in Singapore, representing more than 20 percent of the total population, which is predominantly ethnic Chinese.
This is a very important article. I believe the ruling party has managed to unearth a double edged sword.
Current foreign policy pursues a no-holds barred "Economic Growth at all costs"
A policy of: More inputs = more outputs = more GDP".
More inputs = More foreign talent willing to work at 1/2 the pay of a Singaporean.
Understandably so, hungry migrant workers can earn quadruple in Singapore what their home-bound brethren earn is a win-win solution for owners of these firms and their fledging immigrants.
But, it looks like the ruling party has failed to take into account the tenacity and devil-may-care attitude of these workers. And if these workers continue to run numbers into the 1 million (according to the AFP article), even 10% of the 1 million, conducting a protest of POOR LABOUR LAWS/TREATMENT during the APEC summit is going to be a PR disaster of massive proportions.
These migrant workers have little to lose, considering that they have lost it all already. They just want their money and they want to go home. When asked by the police to vacate the premises, they just regrouped opposite the Manpower Ministry.
What's the ruling party to do?
- Put them in jail? - Woohoo! Free room and board.
- Pay them? - Who bears the burden of paying?
- Violent crackdown? - PR disaster also
Fact is, if Singaporean dissidents/dissenters/opposition start to "embrace and love these foreign talent". They might very well mobilize this vocal and active group to campaign and highlight the fundamental flaws of poor protection/treatment of employees here in Singapore.
Can the PAP continue to treat all residents: citizens, permanent or otherwise, as "economic digits"? You decide.
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