Saw on Mr Miyagi's blog - interesting i suppose...
thoughts?
When news broke of the SMRT bus dri*vers’ strike last year, the
first thought that came to mind was, “Oh no, when are they going to
be arrested”?
Even before the MOM made a state*ment about the strike (which
tra*di*tional media called “bus dri*vers did not turn up for work”)
being ille*gal, I knew the author*i*ties had to detain them under
the Trade Unions Act and Trade Dis*putes Act.
The strike is still a polit*i*cal hot potato as many ques*tions
regard*ing the wel*fare of the dri*vers and the
respon*si*bil*i*ties of the employer (SMRT) are yet to be
answered.
Then there was the role of the trade unions. It seems the
dri*vers were not union*ized, and were poorly edu*cated and
informed about their rights and obligations.
Even if they were, the unions would only have been able to
nego*ti*ate on two things — liv*ing con*di*tions and eli*gi*bil*ity
of pay adjust*ments. The third issue in the dis*pute — that of the
wage dif*fer*ence between dri*vers of other nation*al*i*ties, would
have been out of the union’s scope as it was a con*trac*tual issue
between the dri*vers (or the dri*vers’ agents) and the SMRT.
Of course, this feeds into the pop*u*lar rum*bling that
indus*trial unions and the NTUC are tooth*less orga*ni*za*tions,
endem*i*cally inca*pable of fight*ing for work*ers’ rights.
Some*where in there lies the truth that our labour laws have
been devel*oped over the last 40 years to offer so much statu*tory
pro*tec*tion of employ*ees that many of what peo*ple per*ceive to
be the unions’ roles have been usurped.
Try not pay*ing your work*ers’ CPF and salary for a bit and see
how quickly the MOM comes down on you. OK, actu*ally, don’t try
this at all. It’s all hypo*thet*i*cal and I am not insti*gat*ing
any*thing, but lemme tell you, they are swifter than Tay*lor
Swift.
It is an ongo*ing thing, and I think there are fur*ther changes
afoot come tomor*row and July, when changes to the Employ*ment Act
will be made to ben*e*fit a greater spec*trum of workers.
So where does this leave the work*ers’ unions and the NTUC? They
are still there to facil*i*tate good work prac*tices, good work
con*di*tions, and con*tin*ual improve*ment in skills of
workers.
Say if you had a dis*pute with your employer regard*ing
over*time pay con*di*tions (like *ahem* when your boss said you
were get*ting a pay hike but actu*ally took away over*time and
added Sat*ur*day to your work week… just sayin’…). If you had a
union, you’d com*plain to your union rep*re*sen*ta*tive, who’d then
bring this up with the NTUC if your union was affil*i*ated with the
NTUC.
Strength in num*bers comes into play in this instance, and the
NTUC will take on your case with all its resources. While there’s a
lot of focus on “tri*par*tism” and “col*lec*tive bar*gain*ing”, it
has to be noted that there is still room for legal redress — the
courts or the MOM can over*turn a col*lec*tive bar*gain*ing
agree*ment if it deems it to be unfair to the worker under the
law.
Tripartism’s objec*tive in Sin*ga*pore is for a sta*ble labour
mar*ket. Strin*gent labour laws and happy work*ers leads to a
con*ducive envi*ron*ment for busi*ness, which leads to more jobs.
And this is where the inter*est*ing thing I learned hap*pens — a
bot*tle*neck occurs when jobs are many and labour is not
enough.
When there are not enough work*ers, the MOM has to import
(please, those in the F&B busi*ness can chime in here about how
hard it is to get local labour), and when the MOM imports too many,
wages are sup*pressed and busi*nesses become depen*dent on cheap
for*eign labour.
The NTUC then pres*sures the MOM to reduce the imports so
work*ers pay can be pro*tected, but has to be mind*ful that the MOM
has to pla*cate busi*nesses who are now look*ing at Iskan*dar
because it’s nearby, labour and every frikkin’ thing is cheaper and
the Malaysian gov*ern*ment is offer*ing tax perks.
OK, I don’t think I have done a good job at describ*ing the
not-so-merry-go-round, and I really need Mr Lim Swee Say’s marker
pen and paper scrib*blings that describes the del*i*cate bal*ance
all par*ties have to strike. But I think at least some of you get
the picture.
If you think you can improve your own lot, or your col*leagues’,
or the wel*fare of low wage earn*ers, the last things you should do
is to kow*peh about how the Gov*ern*ment doesn’t care, rail against
the per*ceived foreigner-first out*look, then at the same time
com*plain about how there are not enough locals who want to work in
your cafe.
I urge all of you, if you are a salaried employee, to empower
your*self by check*ing if you have a union for your trade. Even if
there isn’t, become a mem*ber of the NTUC. There is a ben*e*fit far
greater than any of the spe*cial offers, super*mar*ket vouch*ers
and dis*counts we have come to asso*ciate NTUC with.
You’ll give your*self a stronger voice in this tri*par*tite
tri*an*gle, and have a say in how things are sup*posed to work.
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