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[h=2]Cleaning contractors can’t find Singaporean cleaners[/h]
May 29th, 2012 |
Author: Editorial
As the Ministry of Manpower is tightening the issue or work passes for foreign workers, the cleaning companies are complaining that they can’t find Singaporeans willing to do cleaning jobs.
Ban Chuan Cleaning Services put up an advertisement looking for Singaporeans to work as HDB cleaners with salary from $500 to $1,000 recently. No one Singaporean has applied.
Despite a bid to attract them with higher salaries, cleaning contractors said it’s difficult to attract Singaporeans.
A spokesperson from Ban Chuan Cleaning Services said, “We are trying to get housewives and retirees to join us part-time. But even when they do try it out, some are choosy about what they want to clean, or simply do not show up for work.”
The spokesperson also said that many Singaporeans do not want to work near where they live for fear of being recognised by their neighbours or compared with foreign cleaners.
In other first world countries where cleaners are paid well, certainly they do not exhibit such inferiority complex. In fact, many would go to pubs after work and mingle with other white collar workers and all are treated as equal. There is no clear class distinction.
Another cleaning contractor, Colin Toh from Legend Maintenance Singapore also complained about Singaporeans, “They will almost never do refuse collection or block facade cleaning.”
Currently, the market rate for a part-time Singaporean cleaner involving in sweeping 2 HDB blocks 4 hours a day, 6 days a week is about $650 a month.
Labour MP Zainal Sapari said the shortage of local cleaners is due to the low pay. He recognized that even though cleaning companies are willing to offer more, it is not attractive enough. The cleaning companies typically put in low bids in order to win a tender and that indirectly suppresses cleaners’ salaries, he said.
In their defence, the cleaning contractors say they will not get the contract if their bids are higher than others.
Over the last 10 years or so, the median wage for cleaners was $1,227 in 2000, and dropped to $960 a decade later.
Recognizing this, DPM Tharman has said in Parliament that more needed to be done to increase the wages of cleaners. Plans are now in the pipeline to make it mandatory for all government agencies to award contracts only to accredited cleaning companies, which have better pay structures and worker welfare.
As the Ministry of Manpower is tightening the issue or work passes for foreign workers, the cleaning companies are complaining that they can’t find Singaporeans willing to do cleaning jobs.
Ban Chuan Cleaning Services put up an advertisement looking for Singaporeans to work as HDB cleaners with salary from $500 to $1,000 recently. No one Singaporean has applied.
Despite a bid to attract them with higher salaries, cleaning contractors said it’s difficult to attract Singaporeans.
A spokesperson from Ban Chuan Cleaning Services said, “We are trying to get housewives and retirees to join us part-time. But even when they do try it out, some are choosy about what they want to clean, or simply do not show up for work.”
The spokesperson also said that many Singaporeans do not want to work near where they live for fear of being recognised by their neighbours or compared with foreign cleaners.
In other first world countries where cleaners are paid well, certainly they do not exhibit such inferiority complex. In fact, many would go to pubs after work and mingle with other white collar workers and all are treated as equal. There is no clear class distinction.
Another cleaning contractor, Colin Toh from Legend Maintenance Singapore also complained about Singaporeans, “They will almost never do refuse collection or block facade cleaning.”
Currently, the market rate for a part-time Singaporean cleaner involving in sweeping 2 HDB blocks 4 hours a day, 6 days a week is about $650 a month.
Labour MP Zainal Sapari said the shortage of local cleaners is due to the low pay. He recognized that even though cleaning companies are willing to offer more, it is not attractive enough. The cleaning companies typically put in low bids in order to win a tender and that indirectly suppresses cleaners’ salaries, he said.
In their defence, the cleaning contractors say they will not get the contract if their bids are higher than others.
Over the last 10 years or so, the median wage for cleaners was $1,227 in 2000, and dropped to $960 a decade later.
Recognizing this, DPM Tharman has said in Parliament that more needed to be done to increase the wages of cleaners. Plans are now in the pipeline to make it mandatory for all government agencies to award contracts only to accredited cleaning companies, which have better pay structures and worker welfare.