The strike by
Chinese SMRT bus drivers has made news worldwide. (AFP Photo)
This week’s strike involving 171 SMRT bus drivers in
Singapore has gone around the world and has been picked up by
international media.
The strike came about after a Chinese bus
driver wrote a post on
Chinese social media site Baidu asking other Chinese bus drivers to
join him in a labour strike, a first in 26 years for Singapore.
Their main concerns: unfair wages and poor living conditions. Four
of the drivers have since been charged for inciting the illegal
strike.
Wall Street Journal reported,
“Some Singaporeans say foreign-born workers take jobs, depress
lower-end salaries, push up property prices and put strains on
infrastructure, especially Singapore's crowded subways. But foreign
workers performing low-skill tasks are a crucial part of the
economy, particularly with many new developments and transport
links being built every year. Tensions have been fanned by
incidents including a deadly car crash in May caused by a Chinese
national in a speeding Ferrari and the assault of a local taxi
driver by several expatriates in 2010.”
Bloomberg said,
“Singapore moved swiftly to quell the rare public display of labour
discord this week, reinforcing a decades-old focus on avoiding what
the government calls “adversarial and confrontational” industrial
relations.”
The Economist picked
up on local media's reluctance to use the word "strike" and said,
"... the Straits Times, a pro-government daily, termed it an
“action”, “protest”, “episode” and “wage
dispute”."
“After dozens of drivers stayed away from work for a second day,
the front-page headline on November 28th was: ‘Govt moves against
illegal strike’,” the Economist wrote.
Local mainstream media, including Channel NewsAsia and The Straits Times,
also took pains to explain why the use of the word “strike” was
avoided
Blogger mrbrown called
the agencies out and said, “Maybe they must double confirm first.
Maybe it’s not a “strike” but an “unhappy
gathering”.
Syndicated content from Associated Press and Reuters were
also picked up and republished on other foreign news
agencies.
The last legal strike was in 1986, involving the Shipbuilding &
Marine Engineering Employees Union and Hydril Pte., and the most
recent illegal one concerned airline pilots in 1980, Bloomberg
reported.
Under Singapore law, strikes are illegal for workers in essential
services, such as healthcare and public transport, unless they give
employers 14 days’ of notice.
