Singapore strike: Chinese charged
Source: Agencies |
November 30, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FOUR Chinese bus drivers have been charged in Singapore with inciting a strike that highlighted tensions about an influx of immigrants and the treatment of foreign workers in the wealthy financial center.
The walkout by 171 Chinese drivers at the beginning of the week, over pay disparities and dormitory conditions, was the first major strike in tightly regulated Singapore in more than 25 years. It was mostly over by Wednesday.
Singapore, an ethnic Chinese-majority island with no minimum wage, prohibits workers in public transport and other essential services from taking industrial action without giving 14 days' notice.
The four drivers from China were arrested for the offence of instigating or inciting an illegal strike, police said.
They were formally charged yesterday, according to media reports which said court documents allege that one of the drivers, He Junling, incited his colleagues in an online message titled "The insults and humiliation suffered by Singapore drivers."
If convicted, the men face a maximum fine of S$2,000 (US$1,600) and up to a year in prison.
The Chinese Embassy said it was very concerned about the arrest of the Chinese citizens and was arranging consular visits to meet the men, Xinhua news agency reported.
It also urged all the relevant parties to "be unbiased and calm and not to make things worse."
Chinese drivers did not report for work on Monday over a recent pay rise that saw their fellow workers from Malaysia getting a larger increase. Some 88 of them continued to stay away from work on Tuesday. They had all resumed their duties by Wednesday after Singapore authorities and the Chinese Embassy stepped in to urge them to go back to work.
In a statement, China's Commerce Ministry said it was "paying very close attention to this labor dispute."
The ministry said it "hopes related parties will properly handle and respond positively to the reasonable demands of Chinese drivers to be paid the same wages for doing the same work and be treated fairly, and protect the legal rights of Chinese workers."
Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan Jin said he expected bus, train and taxi operator SMRT Corp Ltd, controlled by state investor Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd, to address the grievances but that there was "zero tolerance for such unlawful action" by the Chinese drivers.
The walkout by 171 Chinese drivers at the beginning of the week, over pay disparities and dormitory conditions, was the first major strike in tightly regulated Singapore in more than 25 years. It was mostly over by Wednesday.
Singapore, an ethnic Chinese-majority island with no minimum wage, prohibits workers in public transport and other essential services from taking industrial action without giving 14 days' notice.
The four drivers from China were arrested for the offence of instigating or inciting an illegal strike, police said.
They were formally charged yesterday, according to media reports which said court documents allege that one of the drivers, He Junling, incited his colleagues in an online message titled "The insults and humiliation suffered by Singapore drivers."
If convicted, the men face a maximum fine of S$2,000 (US$1,600) and up to a year in prison.
The Chinese Embassy said it was very concerned about the arrest of the Chinese citizens and was arranging consular visits to meet the men, Xinhua news agency reported.
It also urged all the relevant parties to "be unbiased and calm and not to make things worse."
Chinese drivers did not report for work on Monday over a recent pay rise that saw their fellow workers from Malaysia getting a larger increase. Some 88 of them continued to stay away from work on Tuesday. They had all resumed their duties by Wednesday after Singapore authorities and the Chinese Embassy stepped in to urge them to go back to work.
In a statement, China's Commerce Ministry said it was "paying very close attention to this labor dispute."
The ministry said it "hopes related parties will properly handle and respond positively to the reasonable demands of Chinese drivers to be paid the same wages for doing the same work and be treated fairly, and protect the legal rights of Chinese workers."
Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan Jin said he expected bus, train and taxi operator SMRT Corp Ltd, controlled by state investor Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd, to address the grievances but that there was "zero tolerance for such unlawful action" by the Chinese drivers.
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