SINGAPORE: SingHealth, the country's largest public healthcare cluster, said it is
reviewing its business contingency plans in the wake of the strike by SMRT's
China bus drivers last week.
SingHealth, which oversees two
hospitals - Singapore General Hospital and KK Women's and Children's Hospital -
as well as five national specialty centres and nine polyclinics, is also
undertaking "further risk assessments", its Deputy Group Director of
Strategic Human Resources Goh Leong Huat said. SingHealth did not give details
of what these assessments will entail.
SingHealth, which employs over
16,000 staff, did not respond to queries on how many foreign staff it has on
its books. However, Mr Goh said that SingHealth employs foreign staff
"based on calibrated assessment and balance of the need for trained
healthcare workers".
Several other companies contacted
were cagey when asked if they are reviewing their plans in the wake of the
illegal strike.
Some said they have adopted
measures to ensure they keep a low reliance on foreign manpower.
SingPost said it has a pool of
temporary workers who can be activated when needed and it also encourages retirees
and housewives to join the organisation by offering them flexible hours, a
spokesman said. Foreign workers account for 13 per cent of SingPost's workforce
across all business units.
The Changi Airport Group (CAG),
though, "does not stipulate a foreign-local employee ratio" in its
contracts with airport partners.
"They are expected to manage
their respective workforce, and are required to provide contingency plans to
provide for sufficient manpower resources to cope with unexpected staffing
shortfalls ... or to deal with peak periods at the airport," said a CAG
spokesperson.
Last week's illegal strike, which
involved 171 bus drivers from China upset over their pay raises, brought into
focus the public transport operators' growing dependence on foreigners and
further served as a reminder to all firms to reflect on their management
practices.
Mr Zaqy Mohamad, a member of the
Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, feels that, in an "ideal
situation", companies should manage their reliance on foreign workers by
spreading them evenly across business units.
But a better solution, he said,
was to offer better terms to attract Singaporeans to go for those jobs in the
areas of essential services but are currently taken up by foreign workers.
He highlighted two areas that
companies should examine: Wages, which are not attractive enough, and working
conditions.
"Wage equity is an
issue," said Mr Zaqy. "Why do bus drivers earn less than, for
instance, taxi drivers, when their jobs can be tougher? Working conditions can
also be bad, with some of them working long hours."
He added that wage equity is
probably something only "organisations offering essential services"
should look into.
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