By Terry Xu

The Real Singapore (TRS) strikes again with yet another “sensational expose” (source). This time, they published an article from a contributor named, Vettel, decrying the exploitation of foreign workers by the local company, Twelve Cupcakes.

In the article published on 25th November, the contributor writes,

I believe many Singaporeans would be aware of this brand call “12 Cupcakes” in Singapore. Spanning over Asia like Malaysia, Taiwan and now, setting up in Hong Kong (based on Daniel Ong’s Twitter), the “local brand” cakery is making its presence felt with at least 12 outlets around the island. Business is brisk and there is always a shortage of working staff (based on their advertisement in hiring workers). However, recently, I visited a few of their outlets in town and spoken with some staff and realized that many of them are being exploited.

In the article, it is said that the contributor has interviewed the supervisors of the outlets and gained insider information of how the company exploits their workers.

The article writes that the company’s working hours are ;

  • 12 hours a day, 6 days a week with 1 day off for a full time foreigner.
  • 8 hours a day, 5.5 days a week with 1.5 days off for a full time local.

and highlighted other issues with the company’s employment policies.

  • Some of the baking staff have to shuttle between 2 outlets during working hours.
  • Baking staff paid below a $1000.00 from the accounts of a certain PRC baker.
  • Kitchen staff who are foreigner are earning around $850.00.
  • Summarized that the foreign workers are earning $3 an hour based on the above working hours and pay.

TRS wrote in the footnote of the article which was published at 10.52am,

This article has been forwarded to TAFEP and Twelve Cupcakes for clarifications. No response as of yet. Anyway, we doubt they are doing anything illegal. Unlike other Developed Nations, Singapore does not have any functional worker’s union (NTUC is not a Worker’s Union) or minimum wage laws to protect the rights of workers.

So CEO of Twelve Cupcakes, Daniel Ong wrote in reply back to TRS at 6pm, 25 November,

You write us a message at 9am in the morning , and say you will publish this at night if we don’t revert. We see that you go against your word and publish it at 10am… Without finding out the facts.

You do so without finding out the REAL truth, and also not finding out whether your info is right or wrong. It’s pretty obvious from your lack of research that you don’t care about right or wrong, you just care about sensationalizing a story. But I guess as people who run such a website , you don’t really care about credibility to what you wrote as long as you have readership.  (Full message by Daniel Ong)

In his message to TRS, he clarifies a few points.

  • Workers do not work 12 hours a day. They work for 11 hours a day. 1.5 hours of break together with 9.5 hours of work they do everyday.
  • Workers are paid OT for the extra hours they work as stipulated in written contracts with them once past the 44 hour mark in accordance to guidelines by Ministry of Manpower
  • Twelve cupcakes’s foreign work force accounts for less than 10% of its workforce.
  • Most work in a kitchen is usually done in half a day, leaving a lot of time for downtime.
He also added, “Our foreign workforce want to work more, and earn more in the time that they are here. Back in their homelands, they would earn far worse wages with longer work hours.”
[spacer style=”1″ icon=”none”]

While Daniel maintains that he was only informed about the mail at 9 am and was not given the time to reply before TRS’s publication but TRS insisted that they have sent a mail the day to ask for his reply. So who is right in this case?

On 25th November, 9.05am, TRS sent an email to Daniel to ask for a clarification on the article which they received.

TRS_email

And though they have stated that they would publish the article on the night of email, which would reasonably be placed at about 6 or 7pm. TRS went ahead and post the article without clarifications at 10.52am.

TRS_1052am

Well, TRS might have already check over the details to be certain that the article contributor who have sent them the allegation is a real person, and that the details are legitimate, didn’t they? And didn’t they also say that they have sent an email to Daniel the day before?

Looking at the email thread which Daniel forwarded to us, we can see that the article contribution was submitted to them at 8.57am on the SAME day.

Which means either they conduct their source verification at record-breaking speed, or they simply just published something that was forwarded to them without verification from either parties.
submission

Barely a few hours after they published the response by Daniel Ong, TRS  followed up with another post from a self alleged worker from Twelve Cupcakes named Estrada at 10.24pm (source),
In the post it says,

“I am currently working as an Outlet Supervisor at Twelve Cupcakes. Yes, I come from The Philippines and gotten the job due to an agent who recommended me. When I signed the contract, I was told that I am under a different contract from the locals. I am expected to work 12 hours a day, and 6 days a week. My OFF will be planned and roster by the company. I am lucky, I earn more than $1,300 a month. Being a University Graduate in my hometown, I was from Central Luzon State University, I want to get a better paying job and being a supervisor is really a big thing in my country. My family were happy I found a job….

I have never received more money than what they have told me even if I work longer hours with the company. There is no 8 hours work shift. On Mondays, we have to attend a meeting at around 10.30am or 11am, and then head back to our outlets. Our outlet closed at around 9pm at the earliest. How can it be 9 hours? The job is not as fun as what my boss said. If he comes and you are chatting with your colleagues, you get scolded. They have cameras to monitor your every movement.

I know that there are people out there who say we deserve it as the company never point a gun at us to sign the contract. But tell me, if you are in our shoes, do you even know what is the local labour law? Thanks to The Real Singapore website, we now know that anything after 44 hours, we can get higher pay due to overtime.”

In a response to TOC’s enquiry on this new post, Daniel replies that they have no worker of such name. He explains that foreign workers do sign a different contract from locals and that their OT pay is computed into their salaries which allows them to earn the salaries that they do. He reiterate that everything that they do is in accordance to MOM guidelines.

He added,

If how we treat our staff is bad… How about the thousands of foreign workers in Singapore? That’s another can of worms isn’t it?

Anyway, we have nothing to hide… We have told the truth . We treat our 13 foreign staff with respect love and care. They earn far better wages than back home and are glad to be here! Our workforce is happy and now showing great togetherness over this .

So maybe that’s my silver lining…

Remember the story about TRS reposting a story “exposing” a Burmese for posting the photo of a NS man drinking in the MRT? (link). Despite apologizing to the person involved, TRS has not written an update post to right the wronged and neither has it removed the article which is attracting even more viewership and ‘likes’.

We end this with what TRS posted in their statement of the article,

We did mention in the original article submitted by TRS Reader Vetta that we are unable to verify the allegations made by the foreign worker until MOM responds to us. Like we said before, neither Daniel Ong nor the Foreign workers’ words can be regarded as more true in this case and we will leave it to our readers to decide for themselves.

And so will we to leave to our readers to decide for themselves.

[spacer style=”1″ icon=”none”]

xavier_defence
(Comment by TRS reader in response to Daniel Ong’s reply to TRS)

Subscribe
Notify of
1 Comment
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

Fuel cost price goes down but tariff goes up!

~ By Leong Sze Hian ~ I refer to the Energy Market…

黃之鋒“占旺”刑事藐视法庭罪 监禁刑期减至两个月即时入狱

香港众志秘书长黃之鋒因2014年雨伞运动占旺清场中,被控刑事藐视法庭罪成,判囚三个月。黄之锋早前就刑期提出上诉,法庭下午裁定黄之锋上诉得直,刑期由三个月减至两个月,即时入狱服刑。 据香港媒体报导,上诉庭法官指出,判决将维持原定裁决,但考量上诉人案发时年龄以及其个人情况,将刑期由三个月减至两个月。 法官在宣读部分裁决理由指出,黄之峰的行为严重、轻蔑和蓄意违反法庭命令,是刑事藐视法庭罪行,也是对香港法治的挑战,而且他在其中扮演领导角色,其行为等同直接挑战法庭,对法庭构成侮辱。 由于维护司法公正牵涉重大公众利益,因此法庭一般对干犯刑事藐视法庭罪的被告都会处以阻吓性刑罚,以阻他再次犯事,虽然法庭在判刑时有很大酌情权,但一般均判以即时监禁。 法官继续说道,黄之峰承认其犯罪行为并向法庭致歉,加上原审法官并未解释为何不对年龄因素予以重比,经各方考虑后,决定将刑期调降至两个月。 黃之鋒在开庭前表示他将以平常心面对,即使是面临第三次入狱,比起其他以年计监期的占中被告者而言,他的付出是微不足道,他也犹幸自己的审讯与判刑都是在香港的法院发生。若《逃犯条例》的修订获通过,则日后可能面对在内地法院的审判。 香港众志前副秘书长周庭对《自由亚洲电台》表示,任何参与和平、非暴力、公民抗命行动的抗争者亦不应被起诉。香港政府的责任是要解决背后的政治问题,而不是解决提出问题与提出要有社会改革的抗争者及年轻人。 本案是最后一起法庭处理的“占旺”案。同案的学联前副秘书长岑敖晖等被告被判监一至两个月,但获缓刑12至18个月不等。至于社民连副主席黄浩铭则被判囚四个半月,他遭上诉庭驳回上诉后,去年底也被终审法院驳回上诉。

Petition demands CIPC to promise it will grant Town Council funds to WP-held Sengkang and Aljunied GRCs

A petition has been created on Change.org to demand for a promise…

Heng Swee Keat to be promoted to Deputy Prime Minister

Mr Heng Swee Keat will be promoted to Deputy Prime Minister as…