I refer to the article “MOM’s reply on 2 PRC workers sitting on top of crane incident” (TR Emeritus, Dec 6).

It states that “Preliminary findings show that the two workers had approached MOM previously. Zhu Guilei had first come to MOM in July 2011 to enquire how he and his friend could resign and return home. Zhu was then working for a different company.”

Half the story?

So, what exactly was the advice given to them? – As I understand it if you are on a two-year contract work permit, essentially from a practical standpoint, you cannot resign? And of course you would have to pay for your own air ticket to return to your home country.

What exactly were their reasons and grievances for wanting to resign and return home?

Why would anyone who presumably may have paid about $9,000 to employment agents in order to come to Singapore to work on a two-year contract, be desperate enough to want to resign and return home?

Clearly, there may be a great deal more to this story than what we have been told so far.

Documents to support your claim?

As to “On 5 Dec 2012, Zhu approached MOM’s customer relations officers at the MOM Services Centre together with Wu Xiaolin, as they had tendered their resignations and planned to return home. They claimed they had outstanding salaries owed to them, however, the workers did not have the necessary documents to support these claims. MOM officers asked them to return with the documents so that MOM could investigate – the workers had agreed to do so”, what if you are paid in cash and do not get a payslip?

So, how on earth do you get the “necessary documents to support” your claim?

If you are an employer that do not pay your employees, would you provide documents to enable your employees to support their claims?

Moreover, since they had tendered their resignations, wouldn’t their work permits be cancelled?

Consequently, they may only have a few days left to stay in Singapore before they have to leave.

So, how will they get their unpaid wages when they are no longer in Singapore, and of course how do they then get the “necessary documents to support these claims”?

If the two workers “had agreed to do so” (“to return with the documents so that MOM could investigate”) on 5 December, why did they risk their their lives the next day atop the cranes for so many hours?

An act of desperation?

It appears with reason that they may be at their wit’s end and acted in desperation.

Let the numbers do the talking?

With regard to “MOM will not hesitate to take action against employers who fail to pay their workers on time”, how many employers have MOM penalised in say the past 12 months for not paying their workers on time”?

How many complaints of this nature did MOM receive in the past 12 months? And perhaps more interestingly, how many workers were told to return with the “necessary documents to support these claims”?

Also, weren’t the two workers complaining about not being paid, rather than not being paid on time?

Does the story so far make any sense to you?

As the saying goes – the real story may turn out to be stranger than fiction!

Leong Sze Hian