Saturday, January 1, 2011

Looking back at 2010!

Looking back at my short stint at my previous work place, I wondered if I had been working in a hell house just like a slave? Or am I just  being naive and many employers in Singapore are the same? I do not think so actually because non of the local Chinese workers that I know (including my room-mates) ever complain. Here's why I think I worked in a slave house :

  1. When I first came to Singapore, I told them that I intended to stay at Bedok. However, they told me that I will be working in Punggol and some shifts are at 6.30am and I must move there or I will not be in time for the early shift. So with this advice, I found a place and moved. Having moved, he kept telling me to work at Tampines. When I finally left, I realised that I had worked 10% of my time in Punggol and 90% in Tampines...
  2. He moved me around as and when he wants. When a worker did not turn up at his Sengkang branch, he calls me in the morning and tells me that I have to be there. And when I finally got there, I worked there for half a day and he told me that I had to go back to Tampines. Because I did not know the place, I  had to take a cab and there is no reimbursement for taxi fares.
  3. He deducted my pay when I took half day sick leave (Yes I did not get an MC) 
  4. He did not compensate me for all the extra hours I work at his requests. On quite a few occasions, he had a shortage of staff, and I had to fill in an extra hour or two each day now and for free, which meant I worked a 13 to 14 hour day!
  5. He gave me a time-table and when I turned up at 7am in the morning, I was told that my shift that day had been shifted to 11am and nobody told me. And because I had 4 hours (from 7am to 11am), I cannot hang around in Tampines, so I decided that the best thing for me to do was to go home and take a rest and come back later!
  6. He gave me my off-day just one or two days before so I cannot plan for anything.
  7. I found out that I was the only one working a 12+ hour day. When I asked him why that is so, he just replied, "Because you are new!" Working a 12-14hour day with almost no time to rest or sit down (other than the 20min lunch) with one day off every two weeks is tough, even for a "toughie" like me!
  8. He made me pay S$1,000 agent fees when he was the one who hired the agent to process my documents.
  9. He promised me $150 lodging and food allowance on the phone before I came but when I arrived, he said it's been changed to $100.
  10. When I resigned, I worked another 2 weeks. For this I am entitled to another day off which was not given.
  11. Having worked for him a total of 2 months, I should be entitled to at least one day of leave as I have seven days leave to take a year. However, this was again not given. 
  12. He made me (and all those working in the shop except the admin workers upstairs) pay for a lost aluminium ladder. It cost us $8 each!
  13. He made me pay SGD85 for 3 T-shirts which was part of our uniform when I left.
So what do you think, readers?

4 comments:

  1. I think he is a terrible employer, exploiting people as much as he can possibly get away with...
    You did the right thing in quitting.
    Hopefully something bad will happen to tech him a lesson...
    Happy new year again! :)

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  2. Thank you James... I am also glad I finally left. Bless them all the same!

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  3. i think you should report him to Ministry Of Manpower (MOM)@ http://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/disputes-and-claims/Pages/lodge-claim-complaint.aspx for doing such thing to you.

    Glad that you have left that place... or else, really cant imagine how long u going to suffer under his employment...

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  4. When I read stuff like this, I always get super-pissed off about it.

    I know that we are lucky here in California (where I live), that workers have rights and employers cannot get away with this kind of stuff. I just wish that the same laws protecting workers were in place everywhere else in the world also.

    The worst thing, though, is this way that someone "takes advantage of their own people". This agent business you have written about, that is just so much bullshit. Whatever happened to helping your own people get a chance to pursue a better life -- without charging exorbitant fees for the help ?

    Anyway, Li Jing, I am glad that you are working at a better place now. If I was ever to meet your previous boss, I would love to tell him what he can do with his "lost" ladder, should it ever turn up again...heeee. I think he can probably find it somewhere at his own house.

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