... God bless you all...
... Singapore has become a No Citizen's Land...
... either leave, or die here...
=============================================
Industries urged to give foreign workers proper pay
package
By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 05 May 2008 2053
hrs
SINGAPORE: Industries need to provide proper remuneration and
recognition to retain foreign workers in Singapore especially in
the construction sector, according to Senior Minister of State for
National Development, Grace Fu.
She was responding to media queries on manpower shortage in this
sector, which is expected to remain robust for the next two
years.
Ms Fu also gave an update on what the government is doing to
help meet the demand for workers. This includes setting up more
skills training centres overseas.
She said: "By doing so, we're expanding the (pool of) workers,
but at the same time, we want to make sure they are well-trained
before they come over. So that's really striking a balance between
having more supply and at the same time, ensuring that some minimum
standards apply.
"Over in Singapore, we're looking at how we could allow skilled
foreign workers to stay on longer and the Ministry of Manpower has
been very positive. They have made changes to legislation for
example, to allow work permit holders to stay up to 18 years.
"So with that we hope that the foreign workers will stay longer
and hopefully there's a larger pool of experienced workers in
Singapore to help supervise some of the newcomers. So we are
expanding the number of workers, but not at the expense of
safety."
Ms Fu was speaking to reporters after opening the Construction
Safety, Health and Security Campaign on Monday.
She said Singapore's construction industry employs almost
300,000 workers, including those in managerial and technical
positions.
In 2007, for every 100,000 construction workers, there were 8.1
fatalities. The single largest cause of fatalities is falling from
height, with 14 fatalities recorded last year.
The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) carries out over
2,000 safety inspections annually. Last year, BCA revoked 51
permits issued to companies which failed to meet safety
requirements.
On legislation, Ms Fu said the government has decided to delay
the scheme to license builders, which was originally planned for
this October. However, this has since been postponed to next
January after feedback from the industry.
The scheme will ensure that only competent builders with the
required resources and technical capability can carry out building
works. - CNA/vm
