Bus Strike

[Travailes]

Whatever the rights or wrongs, illegal or not, of the recent strike by the SMRT Bus Divers - paying a qualified bus driver an $1000 salary to drive a bus with all its associated responsibility and stress is morally wrong in my humble opinion. This a company that made $120M profit in 2012.
This place is heading for hell in a handcart !

[taxico]

the package would have been spelled out to the chinese before they get here. it's not like they were lured here under false promises.

they should go home if they're unhappy. i don't feel even an ounce of pity or outrage for them.

there are more people in worse paid positions and have lousier working conditions than these bus drivers.

[the lynx]

They actually have accommodation, transportation, insurance and meals provided. What basic needs that is not provided for them?

And it is in accordance to MOM's law.

I agree with taxico.

[movingtospore]

Very interesting to me that there was a strike though, in SP! Wow.

[the lynx]

Very interesting to me that there was a strike though, in SP! Wow.

And only yesterday that the Transport Ministry considered the protest on Monday as "an illegal strike", which falls under police purview for investigation. These drivers may be sacked and sent back to China, depending on the results of the investigation.

[Travailes]

To be honest, that's exactly the type of responses I thought my post would generate.
I accept that they knew what was involved etc but in the wider scale of things don't you think that this is effectively slave labour and prays on the desperation of these immigrants. Just 'cos it's the rules doesn't make it right.
There will come a time when the new emerging markets will attract all these foreign workers (plus local labour restrictions) and the natives will have to drive their own buses, trains, serve in restaurants, cook their own food, etc etc ...........but because the birth rate is so low.................... the party will be over !

[Callput]

Very interesting to me that there was a strike though, in SP! Wow.

And only yesterday that the Transport Ministry considered the protest on Monday as "an illegal strike", which falls under police purview for investigation. These drivers may be sacked and sent back to China, depending on the results of the investigation.

I dont think all drivers will be sacked. They will find out if there was/were any black sheep(s) who instigated them and sack that person/people. It surely cant be a case where suddenly all 100 of them decided to strike. Somebody out of them would have done the planning and co-ordination.

Perfect case of finding scape goats in the corporate world.

[Barnsley]

To be honest, that's exactly the type of responses I thought my post would generate.
I accept that they knew what was involved etc but in the wider scale of things don't you think that this is effectively slave labour and prays on the desperation of these immigrants. Just 'cos it's the rules doesn't make it right.
There will come a time when the new emerging markets will attract all these foreign workers (plus local labour restrictions) and the natives will have to drive their own buses, trains, serve in restaurants, cook their own food, etc etc ...........but because the birth rate is so low.................... the party will be over !

I agree entirely, and that day may not be far off relatively speaking.

[v4jr4]

To be honest, that's exactly the type of responses I thought my post would generate.
I accept that they knew what was involved etc but in the wider scale of things don't you think that this is effectively slave labour and prays on the desperation of these immigrants. Just 'cos it's the rules doesn't make it right.
There will come a time when the new emerging markets will attract all these foreign workers (plus local labour restrictions) and the natives will have to drive their own buses, trains, serve in restaurants, cook their own food, etc etc ...........but because the birth rate is so low.................... the party will be over !

In the mean time, logically speaking, they won't come to Singapore if the situation in their own homeland is not bad. If they want to go home, so be it. Besides, it will be a good time for SCs themselves to prove that they can fit in such jobs

[teck21]

Once upon a time, the old man would probably have locked them up and thrown the keys away.

Things are a little bit different now though, and more pertinently, before 'you beat a dog, know who the owner is.'

Curious to see the outcome.

[x9200]

To be honest, that's exactly the type of responses I thought my post would generate.
I accept that they knew what was involved etc but in the wider scale of things don't you think that this is effectively slave labour and prays on the desperation of these immigrants. Just 'cos it's the rules doesn't make it right.

As mentioned, there are other groups of people around with their plight so much worse than the bus drivers? And they are often citizens of this country. So why this group?
Would you be fine paying few times as much for electronics, cloths and other stuff made in cheapo-labor countries, as what you currently pay does not reflect the objective fairness?
Nobody likes it, but this is the reality so I guess the most fair thing that can be done is to act responsibly within our private little backyards and not to be the hypocrites at the same time.

There will come a time when the new emerging markets will attract all these foreign workers (plus local labour restrictions) and the natives will have to drive their own buses, trains, serve in restaurants, cook their own food, etc etc ...........but because the birth rate is so low.................... the party will be over !

Is the party over in the Western world?

[zzm9980]

Yet another case on this forum "well it isn't happening to me, so freak them."

If any of us worked in any position with numerous equivalent peers, no matter whether we were happy with our opening contracts or not, we'd all be furious those equivalent peers received much better raises/bonuses solely based on race.

edit: And let me add the disclaimer that I'm generally anti-labor union, and often don't side with strikers. In this case though, not that I agree with them, but I dont necessarily disagree with them either. They're getting shafted, and just because other dis-similar groups of people may getting shafted more so is not valid justification.

[Barnsley]

One of the gripes was that the accomodation is not up to scratch.

Just read in the paper, SMRT admitting that the accomodation they have put the drivers in is not up to standard.

[x9200]

Even if true (what is not the case) how does this change anything?

[v4jr4]

Yet another case on this forum "well it isn't happening to me, so freak them."

If any of us worked in any position with numerous equivalent peers, no matter whether we were happy with our opening contracts or not, we'd all be furious those equivalent peers received much better raises/bonuses solely based on race.

edit: And let me add the disclaimer that I'm generally anti-labor union, and often don't side with strikers. In this case though, not that I agree with them, but I don't necessarily disagree with them either. They're getting shafted, and just because other dis-similar groups of people may getting shafted more so is not valid justification.

Well, we got our own "freak" set. There are gentler way to clean those mess, and we don't have to drag other people down for that (unless if it's necessary). I understand that not all people comprehend "their house, their rule" kind of thing. But as for this strike, I wonder if they think about the consequences, rather than throwing out threats like "I'm going home".

Sh*t happens, no matter what