Rare Strike

FIRST time in 25 years span, Singapore is seeing industrial strike now. But it is not conducted by locals, it is from Chinese immigrant drivers. They are showing their displeasure with regard to salary increment by management. The employer is one of two major public transportation company of which 57% of shares are owned by state firm. The walk-out started in Monday by some 171 drivers and 88 continues on Tuesday as the response is not as quick as they expected. The problem is that foreign drivers are not members of local labour union which usually offer assistance to deal between employer and workers. One participant worker said, they are not trying to compare with local drivers. They just want to be treated with the same manner with other foreign drivers which they refer to Malaysian fellow drivers. Another one highlight that they have been receiving 3 time increments, adding another S$57 in total against Malaysian's S$257. The media are following the incident trying to discover the roots of problem. The authority is apparent worrying to see similar one in future and trying to find out the best solution to settle current problem. Meanwhile, some say the latest incident show how Singapore is overly reliant on foreign workers. Anyway, such strike should be discouraged as innocent public can suffer from their act. Hope the on-going investigation will bring both parties to justice soonest possible.

I'm interesting to read the news as I sympathize the plight of foreign workers. Being foreign workers myself especially coming from poorer country, I have come across a lot of work abusive within my 8 years foreign working exposure across two different nations. This incident make me recall the days we were treated badly 8 years ago in KL company. The management judge one's capacity based on where he came from rather than how he is contributing the company. As a result, we, Myanmarese workers get increment every two years in service. Each time our workers receive RM2.00 extra in daily wages. At the same time, workers from Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand enjoy RM4.00 per day per annual basis. When the unhappiness pile up by days, we all went to face lady boss for seeking explanation why like that. Her answer is quite simple. Because your background and their background are not the same. She also added your countrymen cannot compare to them who came from better places. We were so frustrated but can do nothing. The problem is our passports are kept by management and we were not allowed to return home. We knows it is totally unfair and unacceptable but keep quiet until our contract time is fulfilled. 

I want to share one encourage word that I heard from a monk when I was depressed to Chinese workers, " you will never find justice until you find it in life".