UPDATE on Wed 28/11: All drivers who went on strike on
Monday have returned to work on Wednesday morning.
While bus captains from China do work the same hours as drivers of
other nationalities, it's fair that they are paid less because they
get transportation and housing, say some SMRT bus drivers.
Speaking to Yahoo! Singapore on an anonymous basis on
Tuesday, several Singaporean and Malaysian bus drivers in general
voiced this sentiment in the wake of
Monday’s full-day Chinese bus drivers’ strike.
“(Chinese bus drivers) shouldn’t be paid the same amount (as
Malaysians) because they have lodging here,” said one Singaporean
driver who has been with SMRT for four years. “They also have
transport to and fro, whereas Malaysians have to travel back home
across the Causeway every day.”
“They (Chinese and Malaysian nationals) probably shouldn’t be
earning the same amount since they (the Chinese) are provided with
accommodation,” echoed another local bus captain, who has worked
with both SBS Transit and SMRT over more than 20 years.
Noting further that the terms for salary arrangements would have
been agreed upon before the drivers first came to Singapore, he
said that if they were not violated or changed in any way upon
their arrival, the drivers in question should by right have nothing
to complain about.
Other drivers adopted a more moderate view of the situation,
however, and said they could see where the striking bus captains
were coming from.
"I do think they should earn equal pay," said a 60-year-old
Singaporean driver, who has worked more than 10 years with SMRT.
"After all, they work the same hours and have the same
duties."
Another local bus captain said he felt that it would be fair for
the transport operator to up the pay of the Chinese drivers by a
certain percentage, but taking into account additional
accommodation costs, he, too, said it should eventually still come
to below the amount Malaysian drivers earn.
"They could maybe negotiate a small increment, maybe up to 20 to 30
per cent less than Malaysian drivers given the accommodation
issue," he said. "I do think their pay system should be fairer but
at the same time I think it's a tough situation."
One Malaysian bus driver who spoke to Yahoo! Singapore was
visibly annoyed at Monday's strike, saying the move to do so was
"irresponsible and uncalled for".
"First of all, they should have approached the management first to
discuss things," he said. "Going on strike is illegal and we all
understand that."
He shared that starting out as a bus driver here, his base pay was
about $650 a month. Coupled with a twice-daily commute between
Johor and work, he said Malaysian bus drivers don't have it as easy
as their Chinese colleagues, for whom accommodation and transport
is provided to and from their respective bus depots.
"We (Malaysians) have been here for more than 10 years, how can
they compare with us?" he asked. "Even if a Malaysian and a Chinese
driver have the same amount of experience, housing rental isn't
cheap here -- it eventually adds up."
In fact, he said, if any comparison should be done, it should be
between Chinese and new Singaporean drivers, who are offered
significantly more in pay than drivers of any other
nationality.
"In any case, Indian bus drivers (who hold PR) are paid the same as
us -- they also have to settle their own housing arrangements," he
said. "Why only pinpoint us? Why drag us into this?"
Asked for her views on the strike, however, one female driver from
China said she fully supported it, but did not join it for fear of
losing her job.
"They may say that we are given accommodation, but have you seen
the accommodation they give us? It isn't fit for humans," she said
in Mandarin. "Eight of us share a room, and there isn't any walking
space between our beds. I've also been bitten by rats and insects
on multiple occasions before."
Nonetheless, she said all that is still bearable compared to the
disparity in pay they receive for their work.
"This really is unfair to us. We do the exact same work, work for
the same number of hours and yet we don't receive the same
compensation. Our living conditions back home are far, far better
than they are here."
On Monday, more than 170 SMRT bus captains from China went on a
full-day strike at their Woodlands dormitories to protest the
disparity in pay they received compared to their Malaysian
counterparts.
While some of them returned to work on Tuesday, almost 90 of them
persisted in their strike, as trade union representatives attempted
to mediate discussions between them and SMRT.
The transport operator said in a statement on Tuesday evening that
it has also filed a police report over "possible breaches of the
law", while conducting internal investigations to determine whether
or not employment terms had been breached.