But heavy-handed action raises questions by ministries
Singapore last week came down
hard on what began as a small, peaceful strike by a group of bus drivers,
arresting five on criminal charges and unceremoniously deporting another 29 to
China.
After the harsh action by the
government, however, officials from the Manpower and Transport ministries, in
press conferences last Saturday, said SMRT, one of two major transit companies
on the island republic, could have managed the concerns of its workers better
and added that the incident was a timely reminder for employers to look into
their obligations to workers.
In addition to questions over the
strike itself, however, the action also raised questions why foreign workers
should be paid less than Singaporeans for doing the same work. SMRT employs
some 400 Bus Drivers from China, amounting to roughly a third of total driver
staff strength. The affair began on Nov. 26 when 171 drivers from SMRT, refused
to work in the morning, assembling outside their dormitory in protest against
what they said were poor living conditions and discrepancies in pay for drivers
of different nationalities. Of those, 88 continued the strike on Tuesday.
Singaporean drivers are paid
S$1,775 (S$1,455) per month. Malaysian nationals are paid S$1,400 and Chinese
S$1,075. Singaporeans and Malaysians receive a bonus at the end of the year,
while Chinese drivers receive a month’s bonus after the completion of their
two-year contract.
Chinese drivers receive free
lodging in dormitories, which partly compensates for the wage discrepancy, but
the workers also complained of overcrowding and other shortcomings such as
bedbug infestations. An investigation by Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower found
that the housekeeping in the dormitories were “below par” and that drivers
working different shifts were often roomed together, making it difficult for
workers to get any rest.
Previous strikes undertaken by
migrant workers in the construction sector have passed relatively unnoticed, but
this one involved a public transport company. With public transport deemed an
“essential service” in Singapore, striking is outlawed by criminal law unless
14 days’ notice is given. The Chinese workers had not given any notice.
The strike was at first roundly
condemned by the establishment. Acting Minister of Manpower Tan Chuan Jin
labelled it an “illegal strike” for which there would be “zero tolerance.” The
National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), which has traditionally been regarded as
a close ally of the government, in this case lived up to that impression. It
agreed with Tan, sternly demanding that the workers be dealt with. The episode
was quickly framed as a criminal action perpetuated by a group of workers who
had deprived Singapore of an “essential service.”
Singaporeans also expressed
disapproval of the drivers’ strike, saying that the workers should have
negotiated with the company instead although it is difficult for workers to
seek redress for their grievances through official processes.
In their press statement migrant
worker NGO Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) stated that “there is a gap
between what is offered on paper as due process and what actually happens.”
Mediation between employer and employee, the migrant worker group said, is
often tilted in favor of the employer, and migrant workers face further risks
of work permit cancellations and repatriation without compensation.
This can clearly be seen in the
case of the bus strike: five were singled out and charged for participating in
an illegal strike, while 29 who were described as “hostile and aggressive” will
be repatriated. This, even though their concerns appear to have been
legitimate.
There is discrepancy in wages and
even the ministry found that standards need to be improved in the dormitories.
Would these issues really have been picked up in closed-door negotiations if
the workers had not resorted to industrial action? Or would they have been
swept under the carpet?
Labor relations in Singapore have
been dysfunctional for a long time. Instead of independent unions, the country
functions in a tripartite system in which unions, employers and the government
are more often than not closely intertwined. In fact, the unions are often seen
as taking the side of the employers and the government, rather than that of the
workers. Without the right to organize and participate in collective action,
workers have essentially lost their most important bargaining chip,
exacerbating the power imbalance between employer and employee.
That practically the entire
machinery of the state had been employed in oppressing the strike is telling of
how things are done in Singapore. In a Facebook status update Tan Chuan Jin
thanked his colleagues in “SPF [Singapore Police Force], MHA [Ministry of Home
Affairs], MOM [Ministry of Manpower], MOT [Ministry of Transport], LTA [Land
Transport Authority], MinLaw [Ministry of Law], ICA [Immigration &
Checkpoints Authority], AGC [Attorney-General's Chambers], MFA [Ministry of
Foreign Affairs] and Prisons who have been working round the clock to manage
this situation.”
This, compared to the way the
government handled the SMRT train breakdowns in December 2011 (which probably
caused much more of an interruption to “essential services” than the strike)
where LTA went as far as to say that it shared some of the blame.
With all the emphasis on dealing
with this “illegal strike,” the most crucial questions have been forgotten:
what are the conditions under which the workers have to work? Is it really fair
to pay people differently simply on the basis of nationality? How easy or
difficult is it for workers to seek redress for their grievances? If the
current unions are no longer perceived to be representing the workers, is it
time to review their relevance? Will we ever hear the stories of the workers
branded as “hostile and aggressive” even though the strike was peaceful? Or are
we all just expected to take the ministry’s word for it?
Instead all we’re reminded of is
the stick waved in all our faces: “Don’t strike. Look at how serious the
consequences are. Look at how we’ll deal with you. Remember, this is Singapore.
Zero tolerance.” Amidst all these warnings we sink back into apathy and
inaction, and employers get away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist (if
anything).
Some will think that this episode
only had to do with foreign workers, but the events of the bus strike is much
more than that. Because if this is how the Singapore system works against
workers, ultimately Singaporeans will suffer too.
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