From 2 Saturdays to 3 Saturdays

In May, I wrote about working on Saturdays where during my first stint in Singapore, I had to work half a day every Saturday. During my second stint, my boss told me I do not have to work Saturdays and for that, he will be taking away our 7 days leave. Fair enough, I thought. In May, he wanted me to work 2 Saturdays every month but will not reinstate the 7 days leave. Well, it's not big deal. It's suppose to be half day work but we usually end up at 3.30pm and one a few occassions, we even ended at 5pm.

Yesterday my boss told me he wants me to work 3 Saturdays now. He claims that one of our colleages left recently and he is short of staff. Also, the foreign worker levy has gone up from just over SGD200 to SGD400 for me. While he did not say it, it appears to me that he wants to make sure I "pay" for the extra SGD200 in levy by working another Saturday... making it 3 Saturdays of work now.

With many Singaporeans up in arms against foreign workers, things are getting tougher and tougher for us. The government is bending to the demands of the the public in fear of losing more "votes" and is raising the levy on us migrant workers. While many think this has no impact on us, employers are imposing longer hours on us to recoup the extra charges they have to bear. Ultimately, it is the foreign workers who have the bear the brunt of it all. There's even a "Foreign Talent Bashing Ring" set up in some forums to "bash" us... scary to see this happening in peaceful Singapore.

I had told my boss that I had to attend English lessons on Saturday at the local community center and I had shown him my receipts where I had paid for classes till September. He was kind enough to allow me to attend the classes but I still have to turn up for work after my classes. My classes usually end at 11.30am and by the time I make it to work, it will be about 12.30pm.

Again I must emphasize that this is not a complain against anyone but a factual article for readers to know the situation and make their own judgements. I am just glad to have a job in Singapore, and while it is tough, it's not any better back home too.

Working on Saturdays!

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?