Now, the criteria of hiring foreigners are spelt out quite clearly in our labour laws.
But let us take the Food and Beverages business as an example. Say, if you are a small bar, and you want to do everything by the book, you are face with many problems. The turnover rate for your local (mostly young) is high. Why so? Well, traditional career opportunities are not very obvious. There is not much of a ladder to climb. So, you start thinking of hiring foreigners who would probably appreciate the job a little bit more, and would definitely be a lot more loyal especially if you were willing to pay them the same as local. And why not? Same hours, same labour, same pay. And what a small bar operator gets in return is stability, loyalty, consistenty and a peace of mind in longer runs.

However, there is a problem, he (small bar owner) would have to hire a number of singaporeans before he can hire one foreigner (and that depends on where they are from as well). And since it is only a small bar/cafe, he is stuck as he doesn’t need more than 2 or 3 staff to run the place effeciently.

But bigger F&B businesses, like those in the hotels, who have deeper pockets can accomodate this law of ratio as they have local employees at different levels which can easily account for any foreign intake. And bigger businesses with better leverages can also benefit from student exchange programmes etc. Now we know that foreigners working at hotel’s restaurants and bars are not getting paid as well as one would as a local. And there is also no need for these employees to be a familiar face like in a small local cafe or bar. So having a turnover of staff is not really a big problem, as they can hire the next badge of low wage workers continually, meeting the local vs foreigner ratio easily. These big restaurants and bars in hotels with deeper pockets are openly given the green light to save even more money than their small local counterparts, while not supporting the local employment issues.

If you are young and you want to join the F&B industry from the bottom up, you might like to join one of these big restaurants or bars within a hotel. But you would have to compete for place with low wage workers who are easily available to the hotels. So your chances diminishes significantly. And you head out to small enterprises to gain experience knowing you will not stay there for long which is in truth a little unfair to the small bar owner.

The small bar owner, who wants to do things by the book, looks around the playing field and knows he is not on the level. Big F&B businesses in hotels that could afford higher wage local workers are taking on lower wage foreigner ones because they can. And many dodgy F&B bars are taking on social visit pass visitors as hotesses are not getting penalised or being thorougly investigated. (think duxton, tanjong pagar, joo chiat, little india, to name the obvious few).

You think those girls working at levi’s store is the real problem? The policy is. And the people who are supposed to uphold the policy are not doing a good job either, even though it is disproportionately an unfair policy to the small players.

178) Bitter Singaporean on July 19th, 2009 2.47 pm Is there a way for me to downgrade from Spore citizen to PR? I want to be Malaysian citizen and Spore PR too…

I am an engineer. Over the past year, I have been squeezed out of my job by cheaper Chinese, Malaysian and Indian engineers. To them, $2000 is much when they remit back home. To me, I can’t even afford a HDB, as frugal as I try to be, because the foreigners keeps driving home prices up on a daily basis. To add insult to injury, more of the foreign graduates replacing me had their university fees paid by our very own Ministry of Education. These graduates were not only given free college education, they were even given a month allowance of few hundred dollars each. While I had to work part time to support my education in NUS, and I still remain in debt to my student loan. (BITTER LAUGH!!!!).

I spent 2.5 years of my precious youth serving the SAF, during which I lost my first girlfriend during training. These foreigners were given PRs and citizenship in less than 2.5 years and they don’t even need to serve. If war breaks out, I have to protect 1/3 of the population fuilled with these people?? (Assuming they dun run away at the 1st sign of trouble??!!) SAF even sent me a letter threatening to fine me for going overseas without telling them…to attend a funeral of my uncle…(BITTER LAUGH!!!!). Hey, here’s an idea, why don’t I migrate to another country before migrating back. That will save me more time!

I am working in odds jobs now 7 days a week. I am now almost 30 already. Inflation exceed my savings rate, and I find a home, marriage, kids and happy future beyond me. A simple illness or a year of unemployment could wipe me out. Yet the government is wondering why there are less marriages and births….(BITTER LAUGH!!!!)

I bear no love to my country now. My country does not need to be attacked, it has already be invaded and taken over. Thanks PAP!

I like your proposal…hahaha! that means I dont need to study anymore…be a street sweeper and earn like a doctor!..wohooo!!!..you are brilliant!…

cycle of chicken and egg kind of situation. if you keep flooding sg with more so-called FTs (even the kind on social visit pass as per the above story), do you think the smile & touch of our locals can ever be better – maybe better for those who are not at the particular point of the value chain having to compete with those FTs.

if you are a foreigner in a ‘unfamiliar’ foreign land already paved good (with sweat, hard work & money) by locals and offered an opportunity better (perhaps many times over than) in your own country, your smile and touch of course will be better.

This the the title of the RP post at http://www.thereformparty.net/?p=272

It looks like the new tactic of the ruling party is starting to surface. I hope they do it genuinely and not just bcos we r complaining and GE is coming.

The reasons cited are laughable. “Most Singaporeans accept the logic”….is there even a logic to accept? Who in the right mind believes this spin.
———————————————————–
- Reasons we need foreign talents are,
“a) we are unable to find a sufficient number of Singaporeans and permanent residents in Singapore who have the particular skillset that is required.”
——
-First of all, PRs ARE foreign ahem…talent.
-Secondly, many locals CAN do what these foreign “talents” can.
-Thirdly, if Singapore really want to import more foreign sports talent and pretend Singapore won the medals and pay them million dollars, then I can only shake my head.
-Lastly, I ask this. If your kid cannot do homework, you pay money and ask outside tutor to do for him or you ask the tutor to teach him? When the PAP admits these foreign “talent”, is there even a need for locals to train themselves in the disciplines Singapore lack?
————————————————————-
————————————————————-
b) “certain types of jobs which Singaporeans perhaps hitherto have been unwilling to get into them for a variety of reasons”
-Reason include wage less than even 2k or 1k? Such a small salary is a lot for foreigners in their native countries. But Singaporeans would need to live in the void decks of Jurong on these salaries.
————————————————————-
c) businesses make the judgment call.
If you are an employer, would you hire a cheaper worker from overseas OR would you hire a local who needs to do re-service and costs more? (Given that the administration is willing to allow an endless flood of foreigners into the country)
————————————————————–
I often go to Johor to refill petrol when I am free for my parents’ car. (Sad rite?….1st world citizen can’t afford oil in his own country, need to buy cheap petrol from ‘poorer neighbor’. Even sadder that he needs to drive his parents’ old car).

Yes, their crime rate is high and they have their problems, but the even the poor there live on landed property. Youngsters less than 20 have nice cars, while I could only afford to share a car with my whole family. (Sad rite?) Yet my beloved government and my MP (you can see his face up there) support these Malaysian PRs to Singapore. They enjoy work opportunities here, no NS, same access to ‘public’ flats, with almost none of the obligations Singaporeans have. When they retire, they will have a wonderful life. They can live in Malaysia like a king living off the rent of their HDB flats in Singapore. When Singaporeans retire(bitter laugh), we consider ourselves lucky, because at least we can do that before the day we die.

When I re-enter Singapore by Bus from Malaysia, I queue at the “All Passports” lane instead of the “Singapore Passports” lane of the customs. I feel I will be treated better as a foreigner to Singapore.

In doing so, inflation rises, especially housing prices.

As a result, Singaporeans are paid lower and housing is further from reach.

One the other hand, foreigners remit money home at a very favorable exchange rate. They drive nice cars and live in big houses back home while we stay in 3-room flats with bedrooms smaller than their toilets.

“Singapore’s Senior Minister of State”??? Are you sure it is not Foreigner’s Senior Minister of State?

- Most Singaporeans accept the logic why sg needs foreign talents

- Reasons we need foreign talents are,
a) we are unable to find a sufficient number of Singaporeans and permanent residents in Singapore who have the particular skillset that is required.
b) certain types of jobs which Singaporeans perhaps hitherto have been unwilling to get into them for a variety of reasons.
c) businesses make the judgment call.

- We will go out to give as much help as we can to Singaporeans, whether that is in terms of financial assistance, training opportunities and obviously creating as many job opportunities as we can.

source – “Hard times for a talent hub” at http://knowledge.insead.edu/Hardtimesforatalenthub090319.cfm?vid=190

nope toa payoh
there is another case in tiong bahru hawker centre as well

Husband: Why are you inviting so many men from outside into our house?

Wife: I need them to pump labor into me and give me money.

Husband: But I work hard to do that too.

Wife: That is no good. We need better seeds from more talented people outside. Yours is not good enough. These outside men are smart graduates, strong construction workers, handsome road sweepers, young and vibrant students. They are better than you.

Husband: I am your faithful husband. I love you, lived with you, protect you, stay with you in times of trouble. Doesn’t that count for something? Those men will come and go. Once they see someone better, they will leave you.

Wife: Since some of them will leave eventually, I must invite even more men to our house. I need them. If more men come, maybe, just maybe, if I am lucky, some will stay

Husband: I can fill our house will happy little ones too. Give me a chance.

Wife: You? That will take too long. Even if we have kids, when can they work to give me money. The men from outside are different, they can work and pay me lots and lots of money immediately. When they grow old, they will leave our house and we don’t need to even support them. On the other hand, we need to support our little ones when they age and are too old to be productive.

Husband: Trust me. Life will be better. Don’t invite these men over. I will work hard, and we can afford a nice room in our house if we save for 8-10 years.

Wife: It is no use. By the time you save up, the room prices would be much much higher. Only the men from outside can afford to pay for rooms in our house…you cannot.

Husband: Do you still love me?

Wife: Stay on if you want. It is better you leave. Go to another house. I don’t care. I doubt other houses would even want you. There’s the doorbell……HELLO!!! WELCOME !!! PLS COME INSIDE ME!!

Sad……It seems that the Singapore Dream we all still share is at the TOTO vendor….

Recently, there was a news report about more locals marrying foreigners….No surprise….The spouse’s native country could be a good place where we can escape to or retire in the future…How certain do you feel about our country??

Since Singapore favors foreigners over me, then the foreigners can be the ones to protect Singapore. Afterall, I am not important to my country, I am not foreign talent. Good luck and bye!

Since Singapore favors foreigners over me, then the foreigners can be the ones to win sports medals for Singapore. Afterall, I am not important to my country, I am not foreign talent. I am sure Singapore can win the World Cup or the Olympics once they buy over Ronaldo or Phelps to the Singapore team.

Since Singapore favors foreigners over me, then the foreigners can be the ones to propagate for the next generation (assuming they do not get better opportunities in the US). LKY is worried that we would be the last of the Mohigans, so he says we need to import foreigners. But job-deprived, house deprived locals dare not procreate. PAP is killing my family line. I am afraid I will be the last of the true Singaporean……maybe the PAP will allocate reservations for us to live in the future like the Native American Indians.

Want to smoke a pipe by the totem pole with me brother? We can talk about the good old days when our country was ours.

last night while havin dinner in a local hawker centre
i saw a local man in his 40s
walkin up and down
no he is not a cleaner or a supervisor
i assumed he is the cleaner supervisor
because he wore a clean tees and pants
he was walkin up and down for almost 20 min
munchin an apple
till
i saw my next table was vacated after the diners 1/2 finished their teochew porridges
i thought the same bloke was goin to clean the table
as a matter of fact
he did CLEANED
the table
the dishes as well
he sat down
strech his 1 leg on the empty table/seat
usin the left over dinner chopstick/spoon
and cleaned ever leftover dishes down his throat………
wow!
how is that for an effective cleanin services
our prince the prime minister
must be damn proud
indeed there is no beggars
this bloke didnt begged @ all
he just have to fill his hungry stomach
he bothered no one
just sat down and ate quietly
ole yes
i seen this scenerio before
in cebu phillipines
but that diner was an ole vagabond lady
this bloke is not a vagabond
and he is a singaporean…………………

~sigh~

I am an engineer. Over the past year, I have been squeezed out of my job by cheaper Chinese, Malaysian and Indian engineers. To them, $2000 is much when they remit back home. To me, I can’t even afford a HDB, as frugal as I try to be, because the foreigners keeps driving home prices up on a daily basis. To add insult to injury, more of the foreign graduates replacing me had their university fees paid by our very own Ministry of Education. These graduates were not only given free college education, they were even given a month allowance of few hundred dollars each. While I had to work part time to support my education in NUS, and I still remain in debt to my student loan. (BITTER LAUGH!!!!).

I spent 2.5 years of my precious youth serving the SAF, during which I lost my first girlfriend during training. These foreigners were given PRs and citizenship in less than 2.5 years and they don’t even need to serve. If war breaks out, I have to protect 1/3 of the population fuilled with these people?? (Assuming they dun run away at the 1st sign of trouble??!!) SAF even sent me a letter threatening to fine me for going overseas without telling them…to attend a funeral of my uncle…(BITTER LAUGH!!!!). Hey, here’s an idea, why don’t I migrate to another country before migrating back. That will save me more time!

I am working in odds jobs now 7 days a week. I am now almost 30 already. Inflation exceed my savings rate, and I find a home, marriage, kids and happy future beyond me. A simple illness or a year of unemployment could wipe me out. Yet the government is wondering why there are less marriages and births….(BITTER LAUGH!!!!)

I bear no love to my country now. My country does not need to be attacked, it has already be invaded and taken over. Thanks PAP!

Don’t think anyone will always leave that room empty, unless he/she is very rich lor.

But if that room was always left empty before the maid came, so there is really no cost what?

a cost is a cost lah, Apek :P