Keppel Shipyard under probe by MOM over unpaid wages

[Mustank]

http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/keppel-shipyard-under-probe-mom-over-unpaid-wages-20140212

 

 

Keppel Shipyard under probe by MOM over unpaid wages

Shipyard also responsible for workers hired by sub-contractor: Ministry

Published on Feb 12, 2014
8:21 AM

 

Workers from Akash Engineering being persuaded by Migrant Workers’ Centre executive director Bernard Menon (centre, white shirt) last month not to stage an illegal strike. The workers said they had not been paid salaries for up to 3 1/2 months.-- PHOTO: MIGRANT WORKERS’ CENTRE

By Toh Yong Chuan Manpower Correspondent

Keppel Shipyard is being probed by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) over claims that its sub-contractor owes wages to its workers.

The Straits Times reported on Monday how 120 shipyard workers hired by Akash Engineering and Technology almost went on strike last month. They said their employer had not paid them salaries of up to 31/2 months.

The employees - 100 Bangladeshis and 20 Indians - were talked out of their plans by the Migrant Workers' Centre.

The MOM has since been investigating the sub-contractor for possible breaches of the Employment Act.

 

Background story

MINISTRY SAYS:

Keppel Shipyard is also being investigated by MOM for possible infringement of its responsibilities as a sponsoring shipyard under the marine sector scheme.

KEPPEL SAYS:

Akash Engineering did not inform us of the full extent of the financial difficulties which they were facing.

 

 

 

Kudos to MOM!!!! Kudos to MOM Minister Tan Chuan Jin

Stand up for the poor and down and out workers!!!

Swee lah!!!!

to simi sub-con, pui!!!!!!!!!!!

[Roh96]

He score points liao.

[Mustank]

He score points liao.

 

 

just last week, i read from newspaper the workers wanted to strike liao because 3 months no salary

MOM immediately step in and chum siong with the workers not to strike and promised them that they will immediately look into the matter

 

This week action taken liao!!!!

 

Praise PAP when they do well

f**k pap when they do shit

[Mr_b20]

i sense GE coming earlier than 2016

[Icedbs]

Keppel shipyard and Keppel offshore have so many sub-contractors and they are responsible if the sub contractors didn't pay their own workers?

 

Come on..those sub contractor are not exclusive to keppel only, they also work for other yards.

 

I don't understand the legal connection why keppel is responsible. Does that also means that keppel is responsible for the profitability of all these independent sub contractors?

[Roh96]

Keppel shipyard and Keppel offshore have so many sub-contractors and they are responsible if the sub contractors didn't pay their own workers?

 

Come on..those sub contractor are not exclusive to keppel only, they also work for other yards.

 

I don't understand the legal connection why keppel is responsible. Does that also means that keppel is responsible for the profitability of all these independent sub contractors?

 

I don't know the connections between them, but I guess MOM will investigate if Keppel shipyard has delay payment to its subcon which resulted in delaying wages to the workers.

[Mustank]

Keppel shipyard and Keppel offshore have so many sub-contractors and they are responsible if the sub contractors didn't pay their own workers?

 

Come on..those sub contractor are not exclusive to keppel only, they also work for other yards.

 

I don't understand the legal connection why keppel is responsible. Does that also means that keppel is responsible for the profitability of all these independent sub contractors?

 

newspaper said that this sub-con is exclusive to keppel only

[Myxilplix]

If you listen to the sub-cons, the yards squeeze them gao gao when getting quotations.

[Mustank]

 

I don't know the connections between them, but I guess MOM will investigate if Keppel shipyard has delay payment to its subcon which resulted in delaying wages to the workers.

 

 

 

 

http://business.asiaone.com/news/shipyard-workers-talked-out-strike

Shipyard workers talked out of strike

Wednesday, Feb 12, 2014

Toh Yong Chuan

The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - Around 120 foreign shipyard workers came close to staging an illegal strike last month over unpaid wages. But they were talked out of it by the Migrant Workers' Centre (MWC), a foreign workers advocacy group backed by the labour movement.

The MWC kept this under wraps until the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) confirmed the case with The Straits Times last Sunday.

The workers - 100 from Bangladesh and 20 from India - were hired by Akash Engineering and Technology, a sub-contractor for ship building and repair.

Unhappy that their salaries for up to 31/2 months had not been paid, some workers went to the MWC on Jan 15, saying that they would not be turning up for work the next day unless they got their money.

"They were very serious about it and had even returned their safety gear to the company," MWC executive director Hans Goh said.

He revealed that six MWC staff went to the workers' dormitory in Lim Chu Kang that evening to talk them out of their plans. They roped in an MOM director, who promised the workers that the ministry would look into their salary disputes the next day.

"We told them, 'Once you break the law, that is it, we can't help you any more'," said Mr Goh. "We also said that if their employer fired them for refusing to work, they would lose everything."

He would not be drawn into saying whether the MWC, which was set up in 2009 by the National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore National Employers' Federation, had averted an illegal strike, preferring to call it an "industrial action" or "sit in", which is the labour movement's parlance for protests by workers.

The Straits Times understands that a local shipyard that hired the company as a sub-contractor paid the workers the salaries owed the next day.

The workers declined to be interviewed because most of them are still working for the company.

 

 

Contacted on the phone, the company's director, Mr Kakarlapudi Venkata Madhava Varma, a permanent resident, said that the wage dispute had been settled. "Only some payment was outstanding. Everything has been sorted out, and I don't see any issue now."

 

 

He declined to reveal the amount of salary that was owed, saying that the company was not in any financial trouble. Official company records show that the company has a paid-up capital of $850,000.

But it is not off the hook yet. "Investigations into Akash are ongoing for possible offences under the Employment Act," the MOM said, without elaborating.

While it is not illegal to strike in Singapore, there are regulations to follow, including a registered trade union having to get the majority of affected members to say "yes" by secret ballot.

The last strike in Singapore was in November 2012, when 171 SMRT bus drivers from China failed to show up for work to protest against living conditions and being paid less than their Malaysian colleagues.

Five have since been convicted, and are serving jail terms of between six and seven weeks for instigating the illegal strike.

Member of Parliament Zainudin Nordin, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, said that more could be done to educate foreign workers about Singapore's laws and regulations. "They have to have trust in our system and should not resort to doing things that would break the law."

[Spurman]

Law needs to be stronger against companies not paying wages on time

[Donut]

 

 

just last week, i read from newspaper the workers wanted to strike liao because 3 months no salary

MOM immediately step in and chum siong with the workers not to strike and promised them that they will immediately look into the matter

 

This week action taken liao!!!!

 

Praise PAP when they do well

f**k pap when they do shit

of coz Tan better do something fast lah... if not, we will see more car flippings..............

[Mustank]

of coz Tan better do something fast lah... if not, we will see more car flippings..............

 

this time round serious liao, flip ship

[Knoobie]

if sub con is exclusive to keppel shipyard, how will sub con face financial difficulties if keppel never delay payments?

 

sub con boss take money go casino is it!!

[Wt_know]

1st squeeze 8-10 people stay in a tiny room

2nd push them to work long hours in shitty condition

3rd .... the most lethal one ... don't pay them

 

contractors are heartless ... again and again we hear this kind of news

 

perhaps, after cheong casino ... win or lose also cheong KTV ... if win celebrate ... if lose enjoy before the shit hits the fan

Edited February 12, 2014 by Wt_know

[Knoobie]

"We told them, 'Once you break the law, that is it, we can't help you any more'," said Mr Goh. "We also said that if their employer fired them for refusing to work, they would lose everything."

hmm.. got such thing one ar... you never get paid, still need to continue go work.. otherwise union also cannot help?

[Wt_know]

because foreign workers are at the losing end ... if don't work ... company fold .. you kena kick home

you continue to work ... boss tell you ... bear with us ... after this will pay you

foreign worker LL has to go to work "hoping" the money will come ... if they pecah lobang ... they are the one suffer

if the foreign worker work less than 1.5 year i think they are still in "negative" position (in debt)

 

the fker who earn all the money is the "agent" who get workers

 

hmm.. got such thing one ar... you never get paid, still need to continue go work.. otherwise union also cannot help?

 

Edited February 12, 2014 by Wt_know

[Mustank]

hmm.. got such thing one ar... you never get paid, still need to continue go work.. otherwise union also cannot help?

 

last time no pay salary is like that settle one:

 

http://www.singapore-window.org/sw00/000310a4.htm

 

 

You became head of the NTUC and also remained a cabinet minister -- and Singapore remained strike free.

Yes. But in January 1986 I did sanction a strike, the first for about a decade. It was in the shipping industry where the management was taking advantage of the workers. I did not even tell the cabinet about santioning the strike. And some of them were angry with me about that. The minister for trade and industry was very angry, his officers were very upset. They had calls from America, asking what happened to Singapore? -- we are non-strike. I said: if I were to inform the cabinet or the government they would probably stop me from going ahead with the strike. It only lasted two days. Then all the issues were settled. It showed that management was just trying to pull a fast one. So I believe what I did was right.

 

He will always be the peoples' President

[Jman888]

$1.50 an hour is just too little for anyone

Radha Basu

The Straits Times

Tuesday, Feb 11, 2014

Some foreign workers say that on pay day, they are passed cash stuffed in envelopes and the amounts are occasionally far less than what they are owed. Mandating electronic transfers of salary could help overcome this problem. The main reason workers do not complain is that doing so can cost them their job.

For a year, Bangladeshi construction worker Hossain Iqbel worked seven days a week fitting pipes underground on Jurong Island.

His basic wages - at $1.50 an hour or around $280 a month - were a third of the $800 he had been promised when he left home.

He did not complain at first, despite having proof of his low wages - unlike many other employers of foreign workers, his issued payslips.

He held back because he had borrowed heavily to pay for recruitment fees and did not want to be repatriated.

Eventually, he lodged a complaint days before his contract was due to end, fearing he might be sent home without his dues being settled.

Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin told Parliament last month that migrant workers were generally treated well by employers, and a 2011 survey of 3,000 work permit holders showed that nine in 10 were satisfied.

Complaints to the ministry about work-related abuses are also low. It helped 7,000 foreign workers last year - less than 1 per cent of the 700,000 work permit holders here.

But these numbers may not reflect the true picture on the ground.

While covering foreign worker issues, I have been told time and again by workers and their advocates that despite grave abuses, many workers will not complain so long as the power balance between employer and employee remains skewed in the employer's favour. Some policies need tweaking to level the playing field.

First, the ministry could compel all big and medium-sized companies to issue itemised payslips, clearly showing basic and overtime pay, hours worked and deductions, if any. Itemisation is important. I have seen hastily scrawled figures on the backs of used envelopes that currently pass as "payslips". This needs to change.

A move to mandate payslips was deferred for all companies recently, after feedback that small and medium-sized enterprises needed more time to implement proper payroll systems.

An ongoing survey by workers' group Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) shows that one in 10 claimed they were underpaid or not paid at all in the previous month. That could translate into tens of thousands of workers at any given time.

Itemised payslips - together with electronic payments - would give workers proof of being underpaid and empower them to complain.

Some workers say that on pay day, they are passed cash stuffed in envelopes and the amounts are occasionally far less than what they are owed.

Mandating electronic transfers of salary could help overcome this problem. The ministry says some workers may prefer the convenience of cash payments.

This could be easily catered for by having an opt-out feature.

But the main reason workers do not complain is that doing so can cost them their job.

The employer can unilaterally cancel the work permit and send the worker home once the complaint is resolved and dues are paid.

For workers who still have debts to repay, complaining is the last option.

A survey of 104 Bangladeshi workers showed that each paid an average of $6,500 to get here and it took up to 17months to repay their loans. Anyone sent home within his first year returns to big debts.

TWC2 advocates have suggested that a worker who leaves his job - whether he is sacked or resigns - should be allowed 60 days to remain in Singapore and find another.

A worker who feels unfairly treated or abused will more readily speak up and complain, if he is assured that he is not at risk of being packed off home.

Such a move could also help raise workers' wages and hurt the bad eggs, such as Mr Iqbel's employer, who profit by undercutting more ethical competitors who know it is morally wrong to pay a manual worker $1.50 an hour.

Employers' interests could be protected by proscribing mass resignations, to prevent large-scale poaching by competitors.

Significantly, Singapore allows foreign maids to transfer to another employer in case of disputes with an existing employer.

Also, as part of a little-known scheme, the Manpower Ministry already allows work permit holders to change jobs on a case-by-case basis.

It is unclear how many have been allowed to do so, but there were two cases recently of workers being given 14 days to look for a job after their permits were cancelled when their employer defaulted on levy payments.

Finally, there is the matter of wages.

In the absence of publicly available surveys of foreign workers' wages, it is hard to know how many workers earn as little as Mr Iqbel.

The Sunday Times understands that the Bangladeshi and 14 of his compatriots were each owed an average of $9,500 in wages.

They eventually opted to settle privately with their employer and left Singapore.

Thanks in part to tireless negotiations by unions, the Government recently announced that it would introduce new laws to ensure that local cleaners would get at least $1,000 in wages. More productive and skilled workers can earn more.

Even as we applaud the move, it is time to discuss how blue-collar wages can be pulled up in the construction and marine sector too, where, as Mr Iqbel's example shows, workers might be earning less than a third of what a cleaner gets, despite back-breaking manual labour.

Singaporeans have long clutched the moral fig leaf that it is okay to pay these foreigners a pittance because they spend the bulk of their salaries in their home countries, where the costs of living are far lower. Besides, they come willingly - and conventional wisdom has it that if they don't like what they get, they can leave.

Such attitudes must change. Working hard at vital jobs that most locals will never deign to do, migrant workers have played a key part in Singapore's economic success and deserve better - and fairer - returns.

It is time to evaluate whether it's right to pay anyone $1.50 an hour for hard work - just because it's legal and we can.

- See more at: http://business.asiaone.com/news/150-hour-just-too-little-anyone/page/0/3#sthash.L78eDzRD.dpuf