We refer to the article “18 cleaning firms get licences under new wage system” (Straits Times, May 7).
85% of cleaning firms have yet to apply for licence?
It states that “Anther 110 or so firms have submitted licence applications to the National Environment Agency (NEA), but about 85 per cent of the estimated 900 cleaning firms here have yet to do so.
“Ample training places” for cleaners?
The NEA yesterday responded to worries that the lack of training places held employers back from sending workers for training. “There is ample training capacity,” it said, pointing to the increase in monthly training places from about 900 before March to 4,500 from April.”
– As there are about 69,000 local cleaners – if you divide this by the 900 training places available monthly before March – does it mean that it may have taken about 6 years and 5 months to train the 69,000 local cleaners?
Since as I understand that the subject new licensing scheme requiring cleaners to go through the WDA course was only announced about a year ago – is this a joke or what? – To say that there “is ample training capacity” in response “to worries that the lack of training places held employers back from sending workers for training”?
Do foreign cleaners need to be trained too?
And what about the foreign cleaners – do they need to be trained too? Since not more than 40% of a cleaning firm’s cleaners can be foreign workers – does it mean that there are about another 46,000 foreign cleaners who may need to be trained too?
As to “These firms are now bound by law to pay their workers a minimum monthly basic wage of $1,000. The salary increases to $1,600 for cleaning supervisors”
70% decrease in real pay?
– The Median Monthly Gross Wage of cleaners, labourers & related workers (aged 35 – 39), was $1,500 in 2000, and the Median Monthly Gross Wage for cleaners (all ages) in 2000 was $1,277.
So, even when we achieve the target of a minimum of $1,000 basic pay for cleaners – since inflation was about 34% from 2000 to March 2014 – does it mean that in real terms it is still a decrease of about 42% in salary compared to 14 years ago?
Even when we achieve the $1,600 salary for cleaning supervisors (and how many cleaners can become supervisors?) – it may still be about 6% lower in real terms, compared to a cleaner in 2000.
Oh no – not another scheme to get just $1,000?
How many more schemes must we have – and there have been so many in recent years – progressive wage model, cleaning companies accreditation scheme, town councils’ cleaners’ scheme – just to name a few – before our cleaners – most of whom are I believe elderly Singaporeans – get a decent pay that they can survive on!
So many low-wage workers?
And what about other low-wage workers other than cleaners?
There were 207,100 residents earning below $1,000 and 416,900 below $1,500, out of the total workforce of 2,004,600 in 2012 – which means that about 1 in 10 earned below $1,000 and 1 in 5 below $1,500.
A First World country and economy with Third World wages indeed!
SY Lee and Leong Sze Hian
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