Even given the option to stay to look for Sporns to replace! How nice the Papayas can becum if u tell them who the boss is!
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Stranded workers settle claims
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>About 420 to return to China, while [COLOR=_______]66 opt to stay and find other jobs[/COLOR] </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Goh Yi Han
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
MOM staff providing assistance to foreign workers with salary claims and fee payment issues yesterday. -- PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MORE than 400 Chinese foreign workers left stranded by their errant employers have accepted a settlement offered by their employers' representatives.
Over the past two days, former employees of Hokh Contract Services and Raffles Contractors with salary claims and fee payment issues have been turning up at the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM's) offices in Kim Seng Road, where they are informed of the terms of the settlement.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Help sought
Late March: MOM begins investigating Hokh Contract Services, Raffles Contractors and Neo-Built for errant practices.
April 13: MOM revokes work permits of all three companies' foreign workers.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>MOM said that 83 per cent, or about 420 workers, agreed to accept the settlement and be repatriated to China, while 66 others chose to stay in Singapore to find another job.
The Straits Times understands that most individuals have accepted [COLOR=_______]a lump sum of more than $1,000, as well as an air ticket back home to China within the next week. [/COLOR]
Workers who opt to stay to find new jobs will be interviewed by companies liaising with MOM, and be paid a smaller sum in compensation. Those not eventually hired will still be paid the smaller sum.
The workers, whose [COLOR=_______]work permits were abruptly cancelled last month[/COLOR], have been trying to claim unpaid salaries and fees owed to them by their employers. These are understood to amount to at least $5,700 each.
Last Monday, a large group of them gathered outside the MOM building in Havelock Road seeking help and some answers from the ministry on the issue, and dispersed only after the police were called in. Their case is, in fact, just one of several that have surfaced since January this year.
As the economic downturn persists, [COLOR=_______]many foreign workers have been seeking help from MOM and the authorities with regard to issues such as non-payment of salaries and fees, or problems with accommodation.[/COLOR]
An MOM task force, set up this year to detect employer malpractice and cash-flow problems, has so far found at least 48 errant companies.
In order to better protect foreign workers' welfare, the [COLOR=_______]National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore National Employers Federation jointly launched a Migrant Workers Centre last month to help workers with employment-related issues, as well as promote good employment practices. [/COLOR]
As far as the workers involved in this latest incident are concerned, the settlement closes a chapter on weeks of angst over their jobs and salary.
However, many still harboured mixed feelings about the solution offered to them.
'I'm not totally satisfied with the arrangement, but I don't have a choice. I don't have money to continue staying in Singapore much longer to find another job anyway,' said 43-year-old Mr Zhu Shulin from Zhejiang province in China, who came to Singapore about five months ago.
He was hoping to get back the one month's pay his former employer Raffles Contractors owed him, as well as his agent fees. The payout, though, would not fully cover these, he said.
Another worker from China, who wished to be known only as Mr Jiang, said he was disappointed that more could not be done.
[COLOR=_______]'I paid almost $10,000 to come here, but I can get only a small portion of it back now.[/COLOR]
=> $10k hell notes?! Lie also donch know how to! Learn from the Papayas?
If I tried to stay to find work, I might end up getting even less than that,' he said. 'I think I'll just go home.'
MOM said that it was currently investigating Hokh Contract Services and Raffles Contractors for failing to pay their workers.
If found guilty of not paying their employees' salaries, the people behind the companies could be fined up to $5,000 and jailed for up to six months for each foreign worker. Both firms have also been barred from hiring new foreign workers.
The ministry urged foreign workers to report salary arrears promptly, to allow for early intervention and quicker resolution of their problems. [email protected]
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Stranded workers settle claims
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>About 420 to return to China, while [COLOR=_______]66 opt to stay and find other jobs[/COLOR] </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Goh Yi Han
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
MOM staff providing assistance to foreign workers with salary claims and fee payment issues yesterday. -- PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MORE than 400 Chinese foreign workers left stranded by their errant employers have accepted a settlement offered by their employers' representatives.
Over the past two days, former employees of Hokh Contract Services and Raffles Contractors with salary claims and fee payment issues have been turning up at the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM's) offices in Kim Seng Road, where they are informed of the terms of the settlement.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Help sought
Late March: MOM begins investigating Hokh Contract Services, Raffles Contractors and Neo-Built for errant practices.
April 13: MOM revokes work permits of all three companies' foreign workers.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>MOM said that 83 per cent, or about 420 workers, agreed to accept the settlement and be repatriated to China, while 66 others chose to stay in Singapore to find another job.
The Straits Times understands that most individuals have accepted [COLOR=_______]a lump sum of more than $1,000, as well as an air ticket back home to China within the next week. [/COLOR]
Workers who opt to stay to find new jobs will be interviewed by companies liaising with MOM, and be paid a smaller sum in compensation. Those not eventually hired will still be paid the smaller sum.
The workers, whose [COLOR=_______]work permits were abruptly cancelled last month[/COLOR], have been trying to claim unpaid salaries and fees owed to them by their employers. These are understood to amount to at least $5,700 each.
Last Monday, a large group of them gathered outside the MOM building in Havelock Road seeking help and some answers from the ministry on the issue, and dispersed only after the police were called in. Their case is, in fact, just one of several that have surfaced since January this year.
As the economic downturn persists, [COLOR=_______]many foreign workers have been seeking help from MOM and the authorities with regard to issues such as non-payment of salaries and fees, or problems with accommodation.[/COLOR]
An MOM task force, set up this year to detect employer malpractice and cash-flow problems, has so far found at least 48 errant companies.
In order to better protect foreign workers' welfare, the [COLOR=_______]National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore National Employers Federation jointly launched a Migrant Workers Centre last month to help workers with employment-related issues, as well as promote good employment practices. [/COLOR]
As far as the workers involved in this latest incident are concerned, the settlement closes a chapter on weeks of angst over their jobs and salary.
However, many still harboured mixed feelings about the solution offered to them.
'I'm not totally satisfied with the arrangement, but I don't have a choice. I don't have money to continue staying in Singapore much longer to find another job anyway,' said 43-year-old Mr Zhu Shulin from Zhejiang province in China, who came to Singapore about five months ago.
He was hoping to get back the one month's pay his former employer Raffles Contractors owed him, as well as his agent fees. The payout, though, would not fully cover these, he said.
Another worker from China, who wished to be known only as Mr Jiang, said he was disappointed that more could not be done.
[COLOR=_______]'I paid almost $10,000 to come here, but I can get only a small portion of it back now.[/COLOR]
=> $10k hell notes?! Lie also donch know how to! Learn from the Papayas?
If I tried to stay to find work, I might end up getting even less than that,' he said. 'I think I'll just go home.'
MOM said that it was currently investigating Hokh Contract Services and Raffles Contractors for failing to pay their workers.
If found guilty of not paying their employees' salaries, the people behind the companies could be fined up to $5,000 and jailed for up to six months for each foreign worker. Both firms have also been barred from hiring new foreign workers.
The ministry urged foreign workers to report salary arrears promptly, to allow for early intervention and quicker resolution of their problems. [email protected]
