News that make your blood boil!
Reading the news is normally quite funny – but today’s may make your blood boil!
We refer to the article “Progressive wage model plans for aviation industry” (Straits Times, May 8).
Pay from $580 to as much as $1,000?
It states that “Salaries of 240 airport trolley handlers were already increased from about $580 to as much as $1,000 last August.”
We seem to be so proud of this achievement of increasing the pay of these workers from $580 to – and I think here’s the catch – “to as much as $1,000” – So, does it mean that some are still being paid somewhere between $581 to $999?
Proud of this achievement or SHAME!
As to “This rise of about 40 per cent is part of NTUC’s efforts to improve the pay of low-wage out-sourced contract workers”
– We should be ashamed of the fact that after our much touted trade union movement and tripartite’s efforts all these years – our world class award-winning airport was paying such “slave wages” ($580) to as I understand it mostly elderly Singaporeans.
Declining real pay for years?
And if and when we achieve $1,000 pay for all the airport trolley workers, it may still be in real terms about a 40% decline in pay, compared to about 14 years ago.
As to “A progressive wage model will be developed by the end of next year for six types of jobs”
Progressive wage model?
– The fundamental flaw of the much touted progressive wage model to address the issue of low wages, may be that most of the workers in a job category may never be able to progress up the career ladder, improve productivity, etc.
SY Lee and Leong Sze Hian
