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Ministry of Manpower – second and third meetings
The mediation session of 19 November was likewise fruitless. The employer stood firm and invoked Prime Minister Lee's name, saying something to this effect: These projects (the casinos) are important projects -– even the Prime Minister said so -– if we let you quit whenever you want, we cannot complete them in time.
The third meeting was not held at the ministry, but at the worksite. Inside information told Yawning Bread that the ministry were having more and more workers showing up and making complaints, and they did not want the public to see how many unhappy workers were descending on their premises.
Held on 26 November, the officer Chen circumlocuted again. He spoke of a wolf, goat and grass wanting a boatman's services to cross a river. The problem was that if the boatman did so, with the three of them ending up on the same bank, they would devour each other. According to Xue, the ministry saw itself as the boatman. The wolf represented the labour agent, the goat the company, and the workers the lowly grass.
Soon after making this nebulous comparison, Chen told the company's representative, Tang Xuan, something to this effect: "Go and settle this properly. I have to go now because I have an exam tomorrow."
And with that, the meeting broke up.
Facing total intransigence on the employer's part, the workers thought about hiring a lawyer, but they had no money. Eventually they turned to the NGO, TWC2 (Transient Workers Count Too), who are now trying to help them though they too have very limited influence and resources.
read more about it at
http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2008/yax-962.htm
The mediation session of 19 November was likewise fruitless. The employer stood firm and invoked Prime Minister Lee's name, saying something to this effect: These projects (the casinos) are important projects -– even the Prime Minister said so -– if we let you quit whenever you want, we cannot complete them in time.
The third meeting was not held at the ministry, but at the worksite. Inside information told Yawning Bread that the ministry were having more and more workers showing up and making complaints, and they did not want the public to see how many unhappy workers were descending on their premises.
Held on 26 November, the officer Chen circumlocuted again. He spoke of a wolf, goat and grass wanting a boatman's services to cross a river. The problem was that if the boatman did so, with the three of them ending up on the same bank, they would devour each other. According to Xue, the ministry saw itself as the boatman. The wolf represented the labour agent, the goat the company, and the workers the lowly grass.
Soon after making this nebulous comparison, Chen told the company's representative, Tang Xuan, something to this effect: "Go and settle this properly. I have to go now because I have an exam tomorrow."
And with that, the meeting broke up.
Facing total intransigence on the employer's part, the workers thought about hiring a lawyer, but they had no money. Eventually they turned to the NGO, TWC2 (Transient Workers Count Too), who are now trying to help them though they too have very limited influence and resources.
read more about it at
http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2008/yax-962.htm
