We continue to see job losses in USA. We continue to see unemployment rates going up in USA. While the world may be starting to gamble with their money in the stock market, here in Singapore, we cannot afford to gamble the job of workers. What we have to do is to continue to stay on course. We continue to commit to this policy of retrenchments as a last resort.
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what rubbish is he sprouting..again? I have better faith in my dog!
I thought the elites lost half their chips already in the last round? Still got the right to give out gambling advice? Haha….
Whether to retrench is not up to him to say. Companies retrench out of necessity, not out of reasons of sympathy or lack of.
Stay the course? What is the course? He has serious communication problem. He always has a lot of words but no message.
Is he the minister without portfolio ? It’s time we assign him a porfolio, as minister of talkcock. Although majority of ministers are just there for talking cock, having Minister of TalkCock will ensure higher standard of talkingcock by gahmen that is less insulting to layman’s intelligence. It will be the world’s first.
So minister of Talkcock, or Talkcock Minister
are you telling me that you have considered policy of retrenchments as a first resort before ? So when you say “We”, are you refer to your minister cabinet ?
Didn’t he give Ho Ching the May Day rewards for her DBS, NOL, Chartered Semicon’s Retrenchment!
What a joke!
aiyoyo
elites will get retrench?
talk talk talk where action?
so many people got to do work outside the country,
what elites good for?
very sad story.
aiyoyo
I will really take what LSS says with a giant pinch of salt..
Govt had lost their moral authority to tell SSSME what to do becos they had never given any help to build up SSSME except for lip service & deceptions.
During good time, the elite were spending government money on foreign companies. ABC $400 million. No a cent to local SSSME in this same business.
A $5million would have made a local SSSME grow their business in Vietnam or Indonesia or Phillipines; they wasted $400 million good money
Do you think you still trust them? All you SSSME company needed was a $2million to expand in Vietnam and they put obstacles against you.
These elite have long lost their moral authority ; they should know that few SIN listen anymore. SIN have learned not to rely on them and why should SIN listen to them.
In any case; they can keep spending our valuable coffers on the foreigners until they go broke – good luck
You trust them? They didnt make your company during good times so talk what during recession. ?
This comment by a minister clearly show that the job credit scheme is not effective. Another $4B SGD goes down the drain where the drainage system goes back to US and Europe.
unemployment will then rise rapidly, perhaps greater than 30.1%
To save Singapore, to save itself, the ruling party should retrench the following in order of priority:
(1) Lim Swee Say for always talking nonsense;
(2) Lee Bee Wah for unstable behavior and exremely poor interpersonal relationship;
(3) Denis Phua: All the reasons above;
(4) Lim Hwee Hwa the impression sounds OK but when you look deeper, he, sorry she, is just wee above the two women above….
the only resort is the intergrated wan. after a few waves of retrenchment still say last resort? tell those who kenna retrached bah.
locals are treated like economic digits, what industry is ‘in’, train for it, when economy shift workers also must shift, at the cost of loosing jobs, reduced salaries & all the stress brought on by uncertainty. dun gamble us away like chips on betting table ler…
eh, who’s retrenchment is he refering to huh? his?
ministry of talkcock??? Think it should be Minstry of Clowns…
When he is making millions just for talking, he does not need to gamble. Just give awards to those who gamble with our money and reap the benefits of having an iron rice bowl.
LSS essentially uttering a no brainer statement. He obviously has no inkling how the private sector work. He is the “chief” only for the state-affliated or GLC companies who monopolise some of the biggest industry here and thus are in better position to weather the economic storm.
Most private companies or SMEs are sidelined by these GLCs and thus feeling the full brunt of the crisis and are struggling desperately to stay afloat. So stop dispensing useless advice like nagging at us to refrain from retrenching our staff. We will of cos listen if we are also enjoying a recession proof salary like your multi-milliion dollars one.
well said, good intentions…but talk is cheap
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How is he going to do that? Just blowing hot air or giving blowjobs to employers?
The “extraordinaire” govt lets in foreign workers who take away Singaporean jobs, and enriched the pockets of employers while Singapore citizens are retrenched. So, where is the citizens’ share of economic pie? The wealth gets robbed from the Singaporean worker and goes into the employers’ pockets who put a little of it into the foreign workers’ pockets whilst pocketing the bulk of it. Then the employers hire more FWs with the ‘savings’ from cutting off the Singapore workers and ad infinitum. The govt and the NTUC look on and hold down the Singapore worker’s hands and legs while the employers rape him!
Long live Tripartism!
#8) SZ – We must go easy on the salt. We have been taking a lot of salt lately.
Anyway, I do not see why he needed to make reference to the US to make his point. Is he trying to teach the Americans something – that they have to stop gambling their money on stocks?
Why didn’t he save his lessons for Ho Ching, Temasek, GIC & DBS – before some of them gambled away our money because of greed?
Let me ask this tongue-twisting Sway chap a question.
Is the policy one of ‘retrenchments as a last resort’, or, one that saves job? Now that he is discovering that it is impossible to save jobs, he has conveniently swithed the tagline to one of retrenchment as a lost resort.
We are not so gullible, Mr Sway! We remember every rubishy word you spew from that sway mouth of yours.
I always have a big laugh reading statement(s) from this “Sway” guy ~ coining the term from gemami (sorry my friend for hijacking). I have made it a point then to discount whatever this chap says and felt that no time should even be wasted to pen any comment. However, this is one last comment I will do for this “Sway” guy. Here it goes:
We fully understand pea brain can hardly produce any viable suggestions to ease the worries of our fellow brothers and sisters who are in dire strait or near dire straits. If you have got nothing constructive or of substance to say, “Shut up and sit down!”. Please do not insult the intelligence of Singaporeans and its residence of living things.
“Stay the course” was used by the former US President Bush’s to justify his falied policy on Iraq and it is very apt description of the gahmen economic policy here. So kudos to LSS for talking sense finally.
I heard from my form teacher that Lim Swee Say is a Yes Man from PAP. Is it true?
If i am a cabinet member with the slightest dignity and pride, i would resign from my appointment and migrate with my family to enjoy the millions of SIN Dollars that i have already collected and not stay to get myself despise all the time by my subjects.
I came from another nation to come here to sacrifice myself, i could have started a multi-national corporation and reap billions and not having to worry about peasants. Instead, i choose to come to work for the people, to take care of them and what do i get in return ??? I got swore on, cursed at and could face the violences that some of my fellow MPs were exposed to. Sometimes my tears flow inward when i feel so hurt, how can the ungrateful peasants treat us, the talents and elites, like sinners and nimcompoops ??? I could have implemented policies to make the people zombies but i try very hard not to, can’t you people see ???? My heart and the hearts of my fellow parliamentatrians are aching if not for the remunerations that we get, mend our sorrows.
Yes, i think, we should consider to let you people take care of yourselves because you people do not understand the great sacrifices that we made just to rule you.
Oh, i(patriot) was just imaging myself being a SIN Cabinet Minister.
patriot
He should just shut up, not say anything negative, and further darken the economic gloom.
Since he hasn’t anything concrete to help the average worker, he will do better NOT saying anything NEGATIVE.
Everyone knows the situation without this overpaid “newscaster”.
Shut up already, LSS!
It’s a tough job: the economic is not doing well, and you can’t prevent companies from firing, and you have to try to say words pleasant to the ears, (and he didn’t seem to be very successful here…)
i won’t try too hard to ask you put yourself in his shoes: there is only so much empathy you can have. but the govt also only has so much patience. that’s the problem.
retrenchment was my ex-employer’s FIRST AND ONLY option and the compensation was only the mandatory one month after 6 yrs of loyal service.
NO talk of paycut, shorter working hours etc.
US MNC ok….donch pray pray ah….you can commit and believe any policy you want…at the end of the day, do you have any veto power over all these decisions made by these ‘grateful’ employers who enjoy tax rebates and other corporate incentives?
I serve my NS reservist diligently, we sweat for our nation, who sweat for us?
BS.
Just shut…., and quietly enjoy your sky high salary.
tell that to garhem’s contract staff too, FT are welcome to join, equally qualified locals are asked to leave
@ Johnathon Lim, May 12th
Your form teacher is right about Lim S S being a yes man in PAP like the rest.
Try to understand your teacher is not at liberty to elaborate, so excuse him or her.
As a student , scrutinise Lim S S and ask yourself what has he done for ordinary workers besides talking, bearing in mind he earns $2M ++ per annum.
Is Lim S S in the PMO to give advice, take instructions or be the fall guy ?
Actually none of the above. Ask your teacher why and he or she will be dumbfounded like me. Till now I am clueless how a village idiot can represent workers’ interests.
I do not understand what is this policy of retrenchment as a last resort. I believe no companies recieve any concrete directives or measures from the government to ensure that retrenchment is the last resort. I guess it is also not viable for the government to give such a directive. JCS or Spur also do not ensure that retrenchment is the last resort. So I hope Mr. Lim Swee Say do not give such a statement when there is no basis to commit to such a “policy”.
I vaguely remember ( I might be wrong with the figures) that Mr. Lim said that he set the target for retrenchment to 49,000 which is below the experts’ estimates of more than 50,000. Again he had no basis and no full control over the numbers to make such a target. I believe there was a report saying that the unemployed LOCALS (not including FT) exceeds 70,000 recently. Duh??? Again I am not good with numbers but at least I dont go around making empty claims.
It is not surprising that even a chicken rice store assistant is a FT. I ask her why are you willing to work in Singapore. She said “your government encourages them to work here as low skilled worker”, drawing few hundreds of dollars, and return after 2 years. I thought such jobs our local aunites and uncles can do without much a problem. The problem is GOV cant tax our local aunties and uncles since their salary will be lower than 20k but they can tax the FT using worker levy and charges.
I acknowledge that we need to have foreign workers but at what expense to our local population. Can the million dollar ministers in PM office care to explain? You tell the companies not to retrench our workers till the last hour, on what ground? Either talk is so cheap from SweetSAY to the obedient lemmings or he has a PLAN for us all. I really cant see the light at the end of the tunnel.
This minister in my view is truly not worth the tax payer monies.
its a dog eat dog island here, locals who are high position will gladly fire another fellow local co-worker for sake of safe keeping their jobs only to recruit another FT to get the job done
lim swee swee want to say anything u also listen ask u to jump down hdb u also jump
Dear SL,
good point but how many of our local uncles and aunties are willing to be chicken rice stall assistants? I would say many of them would be over qualified for such menial work.
Quote
….. here in Singapore, we cannot afford to gamble the job of workers. What we have to do is to continue to stay on course. We continue to commit to this policy of retrenchments as a last resort,” he said.
Unquote
Gamble the job of workers??? Stay on course??? What course? Sorry, I cannot understand. Somebody please explain what LSS was saying.
We continue to commit to this policy of retrenchments as a last resort,” he said. Who is “We”??? Employers are committed to this policy??? I am scratching my head now. Will someone please help me to figure this out.
Kopi, can’t agree more with you. What is he saying as “a last resort” . Where was the support of the SME’s from the government. They were more in favour of building the MNCs. That would be the first things for the SME’s to do, retrench the staff. At this point many are struggling to survive. No matter how much they want to cut the staff’s pay, getting rid of one or a few would be a better bet to stay afloat.
The government know that if this prolongs it’s going to be a political thorn at their side, they know it and citizens are not buying it anymore. The FTs are also getting wet in their pants, its going to be a double blow for them. Losing their jobs and change in employment policies, locals “first” ? It might happen.
“SL on May 12th, 2009 4.14 pm It is not surprising that even a chicken rice store assistant is a FT. I ask her why are you willing to work in Singapore. She said “your government encourages them to work here as low skilled worker”, drawing few hundreds of dollars, and return after 2 years. I thought such jobs our local aunites and uncles can do without much a problem. The problem is GOV cant tax our local aunties and uncles since their salary will be lower than 20k but they can tax the FT using worker levy and charges.”
thanks SL, thats really insightful.
The less he talks, the more confident and the better I feel about our economy
Yes, we see job losses in the USA, but
We se Obama working and takin responsibility
Yes, we see jon losses in Singapore, but
We see Ministers giving us updates which can be found in any news station
Yes, we unenployment rate go up, but
We see our Ministers blame it on the global ecomomy
Yes, we see Obama cap the salaries of CEOs, but
We hear nothing from our Ministers about their extorbitant pay
Yes, we hear about the backlash from the public inthe USA, but
We hear our Ministers, congratulating themsleves for everyones elses’s effort.
Yes. Obama has earned the respect of the majority whites, but
We hear our Ministers claim that we are not ready for a minority race PM
Yes, we se Obama break barriers, but
But here we see our Ministers break records in greed
Yes. Obama has honour . but
We hear Ministers self declare their morality, in the absence of.
LSS lacks a good foundation in the English Language. This is why when he speaks, there is interference from his mother tongue leading to some who may not fully understand him. Actually it is quite shameful for a country to have a minister who cannot speak proper English. Imagine if he goes to another country and started speaking like that, the ministers in other countries will really think that Singapore lacks talent and can only get this kind of half past six speaking skills to be a minister. If his other functions are outstanding then at least it sort of compensate for his linguistic weakness but so far I cannot see any outstanding attributes in him. Can anyone here see anything that I have missed?
Come on! Mock LSS’s nonsensical ideas all you want but please don’t mock his English. I am actually more concerned with why NTUC needs to support its own NMP candidate into parliament when it already has so many MPs under its wing in Parliament.
#40, He speaks like that (yes) because he is Chinese helicoptered (Chinese educated). Secondly, he tries to put on a peasant Singlish accent – maybe he thinks the average Joe the worker can identify with him better. Remember when we had Lim Chee Onn? He was considered too high brow and snooty and can’t relate to the ordinary workers, so he was ‘fired’, and returned to Keppel Corp. KepCorp like NOL, and other GLCs etc are full of failed and didnt fail ex-Ministers, ex-Ministers of State, MPs who “returned” – if not golden parachuted back- to the folds, where they came from, ensconcing themselves in cushy iron rice bowls. So these positions are kind of insurance guaranteed for them. Just look up some past Cabinets for examples and compare with the Boards of these GLCs and you’ll see what Imean. Ng Pock Too, LimChee Onn, Cedric Foo, etc. LKY was not ashamed nor apologetic abt this, as he thinks these people have paid a huge price.
Dear Fellow Sinkaporean,
If we think time is bad now and the economy will sort itself out in a year or so, I regret to say that that view is too optimistic. Many economists are predicting that job losts will continue even after the economy start to pick up. To add to our problem, a new route between Asia and Europe using the Russian Arctic ( result of global warming ) had been established reducing jouney time by 25%. As the major trading partners between Asia and Europe was conducted between China and Japan with Europe in the Northeast, the need to travel south through the Strait of Malaca had been made redundant. This will reduce a big percentage of our entreport shipping businese. I do not have a figure for the number of workers working in the shipping sectors but one assume the number is not insignificance. It would be nice to hear what our ministers think of this new development and what ideas they may have to address this importance issue.I had profound concern as members of my family worked in the ship servicing sector for the last twenty year. It is not easy to retrain a person in the early forty. Could we create new industry to absorb skilled crafmen? There may still time to plan ahead, as it will take sometime for those country in the NorthEast and along the new route to establish Ship serving industries. However, the downside is countries along the routes had a well established shipping industry. Regardless, the need to find alternative employment for these workers are urgent and early planning will help to mitigate the potential disruption of unemployment and lost of GDP.