Labour

Speaking at a book launch at the Grand Hyatt hotel yesterday (23 Mar), Minister Heng Swee Keat told Singaporeans to be open to talent and ideas (‘Singapore must stay open to talent and ideas: Heng Swee Keat‘). Mr Heng noted Singapore and many other countries have benefited from globalisation, but increasingly, people in many countries are questioning the value of …

Last week, the Manpower Ministry (MOM) finally released its foreign workforce numbers. The figures show that even though the number of foreign PMETs on Employment Pass (EP) decreased slightly in the last 2 years from 192,300 to 185,800, the total number of foreign PMETs (i.e, those on EP and S Pass) was increasing: 2013 336,000 2014 349,000 2015 366,500 2016 …

The Straits Times published a news report today saying that there were more job vacancies available for PMETs last year (‘More job vacancies last year, with more PMET positions‘, 20 Mar). It quoted a survey conducted by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), which showed that 63,300 job vacancies were available as of September last year, up from 53,100 a year …

Last Thu (14 Mar), a member of the public, Ms Tan Wei Ling wrote to Strait Times Forum complaining about discriminatory treatments received by those workers on flexi-work scheme in her company. Ms Tan revealed that she has been on a flexi-work scheme for about 2 years now. She would go to office half an hour earlier and go off …

In the latest labour marker report released by Manpower Ministry (MOM) yesterday (15 Mar), it revealed that PMETs had accounted for a staggering 79.3% of retrenched residents in the 4th quarter of last year. This brings the total figure for retrenched local Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMET) to 75.8% of all retrenchments for 2018, a record level since such …

Singapore Business Review (SBR) published an article last Mon (‘Singapore’s foreign workers left in limbo amidst tighter manpower rules‘, 4 Mar) highlighting that foreigners working in Singapore are “left in limbo” after the recent announcement by the Singapore government to cut work pass quota. During the recent budget debate, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced a cut in the foreign …

Following the protest held by approximately 30 foreign workers at the old Central Provident Fund tower construction site on Mon (4 Mar) over their unpaid salaries allegedly amounting to S$300,000, main contractor Shimizu Corporation has revealed that its sub-contractor Stargood Construction currently owes the main construction firm around S$540,000. TODAY Online reported on Fri (8 Mar) that contrary to the …

A TOC article (‘F&B group founded by award winning entrepreneur, caught for deceiving MOM‘) about an award-winning boss whose company was caught for falsely declaring foreign workers’ salaries to deceive the Manpower Ministry, triggered a number of responses from netizens. Many said that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that the practice is fairly widespread in the …

A Filipino nurse was sentenced to 12 weeks in jail by the Court on 6th March for punching an elderly, 77 year old man in his car at the Orang Valley Nurshing Home last year. The nurse in question, Bernardo JR Perdido Ramos, was distributing bed sheets and pillow cases when his trolley accidentally hit the bed of an elderly …

In Parliament today (5 Mar), Manpower Minister Josephine Teo told Parliament that the Government, unions and employers have all agreed to raise the retirement age beyond 62 and re-employment age beyond 67 (‘Parliament: Govt, unions and employers agree retirement, re-employment ages should be raised‘). Ms Teo was referring to the Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers set up last year to …