Leong Sze Hian and Andrew Loh
The National Trades Union Congress just announced a $4 million worth of assistance for 80,000 low-wage workers under the new discount vouchers scheme.
According to the Straits Times report, “NTUC’s $4m gift to less well-off workers”, the ST says:
“In all, about 80,000 lower-income union members can apply for these vouchers from NTUC.”
It goes on:
“Each voucher gets them a 5 per cent discount for every $10 spent at six NTUC cooperatives, including its childcare centres and pharmacies.”
Now, before we all start cheering the ostentatious generosity of the NTUC, read the report closely. You will notice that :
One, the report couched it as a “gift”. Is it really so, or is it a blatant attempt by the NTUC at self-promotion – and to generate even more revenue for itself? (Read on and judge for yourself.)
Two, the headline says “less well-off workers” without mentioning that it is unionized members only who qualify for the vouchers. (Read on to discover how much one has to pay NTUC to be a member before enjoying the “5 per cent discount”.)
Three, “each voucher gets them a 5 percent discount for every $10 spent”. In other words, for every $10 you spend at NTUC cooperatives, you get 50 cents discount.
Why give discount instead of cash?
A 5 per cent discount voucher may not help the needy as much as giving the equivalent amount to them in cash. What the needy needs most now may be to mitigate the rising cost of basic food items.
For example, Fairprice raised the price of one of it house brand rice (5 kg bag) by 13 per cent, from $4.70 to $5.30 in March. Cooking oil and dairy products have also clocked double-digit gains.
Thus, giving them say $5 cash may be better as they can use it all to buy rice or milk powder, instead of just getting a 5 per cent discount when the price has already risen by double-digits. If prices continue to rise, discount vouchers also become lesser in actual value.
As each voucher gets them a 5 per cent discount for every $10 spent, if the purchase is say $11 or $12, the effective discount would only be 4.5 or 4.2 per cent respectively.
Giving discount vouchers may also be setting an undesirable precedent, as assistance to the needy has always been in cash or cash-equivalent vouchers, instead of a discount.
ComCare Funds should not be used to benefit NTUC
The ST article also reported NTUC Chief Lim Swee Say as saying that “grassroots leaders can use the money from the million dollar fund to buy the vouchers for their needy residents”. Mr Lim was referring to the ComCare Fund. This may not be a good suggestion, as grassroots organisations should give cash to the needy, instead of purchasing the discount vouchers.
The ComCare Fund budgeted amount is for direct assistance to the needy that they are already entitled to, and therefore should not be used to purchase discount vouchers.
Thus, using ComCare Fund to buy the vouchers is not a good way to implement the decision to set aside at least $1 million from the fund to help needy families cope with rising food prices.
Increased profits for NTUC
NTUC Fairprice Group’s after-tax profits increased by about 90 per cent from $52.7 million in 2006 to $100.1 million in 2007, against an increase in revenue of only about 12 per cent, from $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion, for the same period.
This begs the question: Why, despite absorbing the GST increase on hundreds of essential items for the latter half of last year, NTUC Fairprice Group’s profits increased so much?
So, instead of just giving $4 million of discount vouchers, why not give cash vouchers which would only reduce its profit increase last year from 90 to 82 per cent?
What’s the point of increasing the price of rice by 13 per cent or milk by 20 per cent, and then giving a 5 per cent discount?
Mr Lim was also quoted as saying in another ST report titled, “Rice a small part of bills at Fairprice: Swee Say”:
“Yes, the cost of living has gone up, but it does not mean your $10 has become $5 because you did not spend all your $10 to buy rice.
“You spent only 22 cents to buy rice.”
To infer that only 22 cents out of every $10 is spent on rice, derived from the $1.6 billion spent at Fairprice, of which $36 million was on rice, may not be entirely accurate and indeed seems simplistic. Generally, the lower-income may be spending more on rice relative to their total expenditure, relative to what the general population spend on all items at supermarkets.
Helping the poor or blatant attempt at self-promotion?
Companies give discount vouchers all the time, as a means of promoting more sales and advertising. Will the call to buy house brands, and now the giving of discount vouchers, lead to higher sales volumes, which may result in even higher profits at the end of the day?
In this NTUC vouchers case, a low-income or poor Singaporean would have to spend money being a member of NTUC and pay its monthly membership fee (which we understand is about $9 or thereabouts per month), before he is entitled to a 50 cents discount every time he spends $10 at NTUC Co-ops.
Do only union members shop at NTUC?
This “gift” of a 5 per cent discount sounds rather like blatant self-promotion and exploitation of the plight of the poor by the NTUC rather than any sincerity in helping them.
Finally, isn’t this in a sense, akin to unfair competition against other supermarkets, retailers, childcare centres and pharmacies ?
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sooner or later, pm lee will clamp down on cyber politics, refer to his speech these few days,pap is worried about the events that happened in GE Malaysia.The way he talked is very arrogant.
The discount scheme is nothing more than NTUC protecting itself against lower price supermarkets like Sheng Siong.
Assuming the government pays for the 5% discount vouchers to NTUC, effectively NTUC is NOT giving any discount, but at the same time is assured that a huge mass of consumers are ‘forced’ to buy from them.
Who wouldn’t want to buy things at a discount? But the very questionable practice is that the government is using taxpayers’ money to lock consumers into NTUC run businesses.
How can this be allowed to be carried out? Unbelievable.
I also would like to recommend OCBC bank card to all motorist. Use their card at Caltex, you get 10 percent discount. Waahh…better than NTUC leh. Caltex and OCBC really TAKES CARE of our singaporeans!!
This is what happends when you get elected through the back door by walkovers or on the coat tail of ministers.
” Said Mr Lee: “In fact, if we test people’s understanding of policies, I think even news workers and PAP MPs might not pass.”
If they can’t even understand policies why are they MPs in the first place, just to attend CCC events and give out vouchers to the needy and look important. Now it becomes clear why we seldom have critical questions in Paliament, the poor blokes just dont understand what’s going on.
” Said Mr Lee: “In fact, if we test people’s understanding of policies, I think even news workers and PAP MPs might not pass.”
Even Junta, Saddam, and any nefarious dictators can quote such a statement with pride. I aghast at the increasing arrogance of the PM. Look like father, like son. Traits of dictator are so evident.
How do we understand the policies of
1) fixing opp party and buying supporter’s vote
2) Windows dressing and data massaging resulting in loss of credibility in name of nation building
3) PayAndPay ERP galtries without explaining but keeping silent on issue.
4) Paying themselves millions in the midst of all time high inflation
5) Proposing against wage hike against commoner while elite like them using their legal power to increase salary …
What logic is that ?
Kangaroo policies make by kangaroo parliament ?
The ERP gantry at Lorong 8 Toa Payoh, make businesses at Toa Payoh dip to 30% less.Is this a caring government ?Collect $1 per vehicle end up businesses decline.What kind of policy ? No wonder we and PAP MPs can’t understand!!!
Gary Teoh,
we commoner do not understand but jokers like LKY, LHL, and rest of the coffers understand the policy of money-making business using the government very well. Aren’t they the largest shareholder in Singapore Inc ?
” Said Mr Lee: “In fact, if we test people’s understanding of policies, I think even news workers and PAP MPs might not pass.”
When Joker Lee say the above, I can understand him because these new workers and PAP MPs have yet to be welcome into the board of Singapore INC. Once there, they have the Best Jobs In the world as describe by http://www.insanepoly.com
Other than telling us that PAP MPs may not pass tests on policies, PM Lee also said that oppositions are not potent. I AGREE WITH HIM WHOLEHEARTEDLY.
The Oppositions have to wake up, your impotences are too obvious. We do not see YOU having the impetus to act at opportune time like this. TOC and the participants at this Site and elsewhere have given YOU, THE OPPOSITIONS, much supports and materials to gain momentum, but sadly, liked what the PM said and I paraphrase; ‘speak too little and too inconsequential’.
Now that Singaporeans are clearly shown how schemes from NTUC work and how people contribute to their businesses and become suckers themselves(members/public), it is time to disseminate these facts clearly to relatives, friends and everybody else. Many need to be enlightened about how we, the people, are being played by the Leaders.
Schemes that are scheming because they are planned and executed by Schemers are by nature as this Sentence connotes, implies sophistry. It is bad to be sheep and worse if you are turn into mutton. Beware, beware and beware!
patriot.
Let us boycott ntuc and buy from shop n save or sheng siong, ntuc always come up funny funny idea such as a corner at the supermarket for the poor people to buy things, then we middle income ppl suffer like shit
“If we test people’s understanding of policies, I think even news workers and PAP MPs might not pass.”
PM Lee (TODAY)
Not surprising, LHL plays the role of goalkeeper to keep out the legitimate shots from the public and others.
Is LHL also admitting that the PAP’s part-time MPs are there to make up the numbers only, put on some superficial appearances, make some noises in parliament and still end up supporting motions anyway?
It’s not a matter of Singaporeans not understanding PAP’s policies. It’s a case of not agreeing with PAP’s profit oriented policies.
Only those naive enough will still believe totally in the PAP govt.
There is Cold Storage, Sheng Siong and Shop and Save. Mustafa also quite cheap less the crowd. We all should be encouraged not to buy from NTUC. The only reason i still buy from NTUC is that they still hire a lot of auntie singaporeans, even though china chinese are on the rise in numbers. Really hard to believe that NTUC employs non singaporean worker to replace us singaporean. What is NTUC for anyway?
Talking about pap MPs,most of them got full time jobs, so their MP duty is part time only, where got so much time understand the policy.anyhow hantam lah, anyway under GRC, they are guarantee a place, why worry
I think we have to revisit the definition of poor , Cause I believe the country can be rich and the top layers richer with fomulated policies.
So whos helping the “POOR” ? if you had 100000 dollars and your policies make you own 2000000 dollars, then this is the a policy that will help the “POOR”
To begin with we dont even have the number of familes who are classified as poor.
Ya correct, Mr Make Believe, how to classify poor? Nowadays with high cost of living a person earning $2k after nett is 1.6k, still he has to pay electrical bill, S&C, transport, food,education, healthcare,and misc.no saving at all, is it consider poor or middle class ?
Here we have the government blowing its own trumpet about how “tech savvy” Singapore is and yet can’t even have a system to exempt basic necessities from GST?!!
Even in Australia, they are able to do that and everything is itemised nicely in your grocery bill…
Then again, it is not the flesh (technology, capability) that is lacking but the SPIRIT!
Here’s a list of PAP-related blunders I observed:
1. PM Lee became PM Lee because of MM Lee, not by people’s voting
2. Parliament meeting looks like PAP meeting
3. Major organisations like NTUC, DBS, CPF, SP, Starhub, Singtel, M1, Temasek Holdings, GIC, SIA, CASE, MediaCorp, ST are PAP-related
4. ERPs always on the rise when traffic congestions still remain
5. Just before elections, electoral boundaries are redrawn + got $$$ package
6. Many PAP MPs holding dual appointments.
7. NMP Eunice Olsen has 5-digit salary not for speaking up for people but shooting jewellery ads
Its about money never about people.
People are digits and the more people we import the richer they will be.
Anyone knows how much reserves we have ?
Is there such a thing as a AUDIT TRAIL when we move money ?
I apply for ntuc union member from Feb 2008 until now yet to receive their union card, then they just cancel my max (linkpoint) card, the reason they give i cant have 2 card at the same time, physically i dun even got their union which they claim lost in the mail since march 2008. possible??
Hard to believe lor, just imagine, apply for membership take almost 6 mths to get the card, and i make full payment for 1 yr membership, wat is this ?
Check with them on the phone, always tell u, they will check, give them 3 days, ends up nothing from them ?
Dun join ntuc, if you got the choice.
if not you will regret
NTUC should be helping the poor.
NTUC must improve
ntuc must improve by giving free items like dunno what
Perhaps someone ( Leong Sze Hian)can enlighten me.
The NTUC is a cooperative society.
Does it mean that it:
1. Does not pay any tax
2. Does not need to keep reserves
3. Is limited in the income it can make per year.
If it is so, then the rebate would be considered paltry as it is subsidized by taxes the government would otherwise collect (? 17%).
As it cannot show excessive income (?10%) it would have plenty of money to create new staff positions in its system and to pay well for these positions.