One of the big changes during this second stint in Singapore is that my boss told me I do not have to work on Saturday. In the past, I had to work half a day on Saturday, and for this, I get 7 days leave a year. However, now that the canteen at the MOE does not open on Saturday, my boss will be deducting the 7 days leave.
However, recently, my boss took up a new place at the HSA canteen at the Singapore General Hospital. They have to open on Saturday too. Last Saturday, I worked there till 3pm! That's like almost a full day. Another 3 hours more and it's a full day of work!
My boss now wants us to work on alternate Saturdays there. No extra pay, no extra leave. Unfortunately, I have already signed up an English course at the local community center and lesson starts in May every Saturday morning. My boss wasn't too pleased to hear this, and said that since my lessons are from 9.30am to 11.30am, I should go to work after my lessons, and stay till the canteen is close. Is this fair?
First, we agreed that the 7 days leave be deducted because we don't work Saturdays. Now he wants us to work Saturdays but will not give us back the 7 days leave. One of the weekends, I even worked a full Saturday and Sunday because they had a big weekend event at the MOE... no overtime pay too.
Please don't get me wrong! I am just curious if we, migrant workers here, are taken for granted? Employers know that we have signed a 2 years contract and will squeeze the maximum out of us. Regardless, this is still much better than my short stint with Bread Junction anyway, so, I am really not complaining... just curious and would like to know what my Singaporean readers think!
What would a Singaporean worker do when faced with such a situation?
