This must have been the most pleasing thing that Lim Swee Say Shee Shee has said [see below], even though I have said this back in Oct 24. The only difference is that I am a nobody and I ain’t paid a million. Maybe they ought to fire him and put me on his job for half the pay.

Labour chief urges employers to give priority to local workers
Channel NewsAsia – Friday, December 5

SINGAPORE: It may make more business sense to let go of foreign rank—and—file workers rather than Singaporean workers if retrenchment is unavoidable, said Labour chief Lim Swee Say at the Singapore Tripartism Forum on Thursday.

The secretary—general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) said: “We’re talking about rank—and—file workers who are, by and large, replaceable. Our message is — Give priority to the local workers. Not only will you help us minimise unemployment in Singapore, but more importantly, it makes business sense for your company.”

Mr Lim said if Singaporeans are laid off, companies may find it tough to re—employ them when the economy improves because they will be sought after by companies which must fulfil a quota of local talent first, before they can hire foreign ones.

At the same time, foreign workers are necessary for companies to keep costs down and to avoid a scenario whereby local firms choose to relocate overseas.

Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong related a conversation he had with a company head.

“If he were asked to employ only Singaporeans, his costs would have gone up and he would have had no choice but to shift the whole company out of Singapore to China,” said Mr Gan.

A recent survey of employers showed that about 60 per cent of them were freezing headcount and a few planned to retrench workers.

Stephen Lee, president of the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), said: “Many companies choose to do the easier one first — freeze hiring. And for those who have left by natural attrition, they don’t replace. The next step is non—renewal of contracts and that will mostly affect foreign workers.”

The labour movement stressed that retrenchment should be the last resort. And despite the current economic gloom, employers and employees should help one another and plan tactics carefully so that Singapore can rebound quickly, once the economic downturn is over.

— CNA/so

Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, one can figure out with a rat’s ass the effect of this is going to be negligible!

First of all, foreign companies may use this excuse to just leave Singapore for good, be it to set up at a new place (no matter how unlikely). Alternatively, they just wind down their operations here in Singapore to so-call ‘concentrate on its core competencies’. And this appears to be the fate the buyer has installed for my current employer once the acquisition is complete …

Secondly, PRs don’t count towards to quota which companies need to maintain to keep a foreign worker. So technically, a company can still retrench a Singaporeans and keep the job for a PR, who in essence is nothing more than just a foreigner.

So, Lim Shee Shee can say whatever he wants and it is unlikely that it’s going to have a great effect in helping some of us keep our jobs anyway. And it’s not like the Tali-PAP ever really give a shit whether we have a job anyway. After all, they’ll just blame us for not being qualified enough to get employed.

In simpler words, when there’s a problem it’s always our own fault!

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Comics:

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Recommended Reads:
Cobalt Paladin: Diary of an Entrepreneur – Signs of Our Times #3

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Trivial:
On June 22, 1941, Soviet archaeologists working in the Samarkand crypt opened the sarcophagus to study the body of Timur (Tamerlane) and found the inscription: “Whoever opens this will be defeated by an enemy more fearsome than I.” Hours later, Hitler invaded Russia. Five weeks after the great Emir was re-interred in 1942, the Germans surrendered at Stalingrad.