Remember the sacrifices of Singaporean workers and bring down high living costs

Workers' Party Labour Day Media Release

30 April 2005

This Labour Day in 2005, the Workers' Party notes that, for the past year, the PAP government has been painting a rosy picture of the Singapore economy.

According to the PAP, economic growth is on the cards, many sectors are recovering, jobs are being created and although the unemployment rate has gone up, layoffs are down.

We are not sure how much ordinary workers will benefit from the statistical growth rates published, but we must temper the exuberance of the PAP in highlighting the statistical economic growth by reminding them of the sacrifices the workers have made through steep reductions to CPF contribution rates.

With workers aged from 50-55 forced to make less CPF contribution and the CPF salary ceiling for employers coming down, older workers continue to face difficulties in servicing housing loans as the result of these CPF related cuts. Even those who can pay also face tightening cash flow situation.

In spite of these sacrifices, our workers have still come up tops in terms of labour force productivity in the recent Washington-based Business Environment Risk Intelligence (Beri) ratings.

Yet in September 2004, the PAP government passed amendments to the Employment Act to allow an employer not to pay overtime if his request is approved by a Commissioner of Labour.

This amendment was proposed to deal with Singapore's high labour costs in comparison to its regional neighbouring countries. What about Singapore’s high cost of living?

If the PAP does not address the cost of living in Singapore, which is a long-time problem, how can they resolve the problem of high labour costs?

The purpose of overtime payment has been to prevent employers from stretching their employees' working hours to their own benefit.

For instance, employees may be made to work longer hours for the same pay, yet the additional profits generated by these additional hours put in by the workers could serve to only increase the salaries of their bosses.

Yet now, the Ministry of Manpower opens a channel for this form of abuse to possibly occur.

The section of the labour force most affected by this new legislation is workers who are paid low wages but compensated with overtime payments. If now there is a risk of their not being paid overtime, not only will their income gap widen, these workers will increasing find it harder to get by in Singapore.

Instead of paying more attention to the high cost of living, the PAP tries to solve economic problems with other ideas, most recently by introducing Integrated Resorts (IRs) with casinos with the aim of having the casinos bring in revenue from tourism.

The Workers' Party has no issue with IRs, but with the casinos, the PAP has ignored the fact that as much as they can boost tourism, they can also sap financial resources from local gambling addicts. Further by creating a condition for Singaporeans to frequent the casino, the PAP is putting families at risk from gambling related fallout.

The PAP justification is that the IRs with their casinos may create jobs for 35,000. The Workers' Party has no reason not to embrace job creation. However, the government will also put 55,000 Singaporeans at risk owing to a number of our people being besotted by gambling addiction.

It is also uncertain how many of the 35,000 workers working at casino would resist the temptation to gamble and consequently end up worse off than working somewhere else. More importantly, at the final count, it is not clear how many of these 35,000 jobs will go to Singaporeans.

The Workers' Party takes this opportunity to wish all Singaporeans a happy Labour Day holiday and calls on the PAP to recognize the sacrifices our workers have made and to focus on bringing down high living costs.

James Gomez
2nd Assistant Secretary-General
The Workers' Party of Singapore