Guidelines on how to manage excess manpower and retrench employees have been revised for the first time since 2009, according to a statement from the tripartite partners yesterday.

The new recommendations include shortening the length of service of those eligible for retrenchment from three to two years, as well as who to let go.

Instead of laying off workers on such grounds as age or family responsibility, the partners ask employers to consider whether the workers can contribute to the company’s future business needs.

Another major change is how to retrench workers responsibly, including which agencies to inform and when to do so.

Bosses are also urged to inform workers of the layoff as early as possible, explain the reasons for it and outline how it will be carried out.

The tripartite partners are the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) and National Trades Union Congress (NTUC). The guidelines, introduced in 2008, were first changed in 2009, amid an economic downturn. Yesterday, the partners noted the current slowing economy and advised employers to retrench only as a last resort and to use the downtime to upgrade workers’ skills or redesign jobs.

“As local workforce growth is expected to be only 1 per cent per annum until 2020, we urge employers to take a longer-term view of their manpower needs,” said SNEF executive director Koh Juan Kiat.

But if they must retrench, companies are advised to inform MOM and, where relevant, the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices.

They are asked to do so as early as possible so that local employees can be helped to find new jobs or receive relevant training.

Unionised companies are urged to consult their unions early, with the norm being a month before the workers are told.

Labour MP Patrick Tay, who also chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, welcomed the changes but was worried how non-unionised companies would handle a retrenchment.

In a Facebook post, he reminded companies that there are many alternatives to a layoff, such as a shorter work week and adopting a flexible wage system.

If retrenchment is the only recourse, it should be done “fairly, responsibly and sensitively”. Notice should not be given during festive seasons like Chinese New Year and Hari Raya, he said.

rachelay@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on May 25, 2016.
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A group of architects is piecing together a conservation paper to save parts of Dakota Crescent, one of Singapore’s oldest public housing estates.

The group is led by Mr Jonathan Poh. The plan is to submit the paper to the Ministry of National Development (MND).

One option being suggested is conserving the entire area and re-adapting some of the blocks there for other uses such as food and beverage businesses and a hotel.

The estate has a variety of two- storey, three-storey and seven-storey brick-clad blocks.

A second option involves selecting some of the estate’s iconic structures for protection.

These include its eight “butterfly blocks” – curved buildings with two perpendicular wings at the back; Blocks 10 and 20, which hug the blue-mosaic-tiled dove-design playground; and five blocks which face Geylang River.

Their draft proposal is slated for submission to Mountbatten MP Lim Biow Chuan at the end of the month. A full conservation report is due to be ready later this year.

As part of the Government’s rejuvenation plans for ageing Housing Board estates, the 17 rental blocks in Dakota Crescent will have to go, and residents must leave by the end of this year.

Residents can rent flats at nearby Cassia Crescent for the same price based on the existing tenancy. Those eligible who choose to buy a new flat elsewhere can get a relocation grant of up to $15,000.

The vacated site will be reserved for future residential development.

Mr Poh, 36, who started the Save Dakota Crescent campaign in 2014, told The Straits Times: “This is a unique estate. You don’t see such open space architectural plans elsewhere in Singapore. Our plan aims to keep Dakota Crescent’s distinctive features, like its iconic blocks, large courtyards and streetscape.”

Blocks 10 and 20 are similar to the British-built and now-razed blocks that used to stand in St Michael’s estate in Whampoa and the Princess and Duchess estates in Queenstown.

The blocks feature alternating balconies and walls along their corridors. Mr Poh said the two Dakota Crescent blocks are the last examples of such architecture here.

Meanwhile, the butterfly blocks were designed for better ventilation with a courtyard between both wings. The flats were built by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) in 1958 and handed to its successor, the HDB, in 1960.

Mr Lim, the MP, has met residents and the architects to discuss the conservation of the estate three times since last October.

He said: “I’m working with these residents to put up a proposal to MND to ask the Government to consider conserving parts of Dakota Crescent. This will allow the people to remember the history of the place and to reminisce about the past and the architectural features.

“If we can keep four to five blocks, I would be very happy. We will work together to package the proposal to persuade the authorities that Dakota Crescent forms part of our heritage and is worth conserving.”

A URA spokesman said both the authority and National Heritage Board (NHB) met the MP, grassroots members, and representatives from the Save Dakota Crescent group last November.

She said the URA has conserved SIT developments built during the same era in Tiong Bahru and Kampong Silat estate, and that the authorities will evaluate the proposal after they receive it.

She added: “In land-scarce Singapore, how much more to conserve is always a dilemma, and has to be balanced against the need to rejuvenate our older estates, and the need for land to meet future needs.”

melodyz@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on May 25, 2016.
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While most of Parkway Parade has re-opened for business since last Friday after a fire there two Sundays ago, five shops remained closed yesterday.

The shops that were still shut were on Level 2 and included clothing store Fox Kids and Baby, where the fire was believed to have broken out.

Employees and contractors at the shops were seen cleaning their premises when The Straits Times visited the mall yesterday and on Monday.

At the second level of Isetan, staff wearing face masks were cleaning the store, which still had traces of black soot on the floor.

The fire, as well as water from the mall’s sprinkler system triggered by the blaze, had damaged the fixtures and goods of some shops.

Mothercare is expected to be closed for another two weeks, said its executive director Pang Fu Wei. “About $400,000 worth of stock was damaged,” he told ST.

“All the goods that were on the shop floor – we cannot sell them any more. We are a kids’ (merchandise) retailer and there might be chemicals in the air that could have affected the goods.

We are now discussing with the insurance company how to deal with the damaged goods,” Mr Pang said.

An employee of education toy shop Growing Fun said that the store is likely to remain closed for another week or two for renovation works, as the fire had “made the floor black”.

Seed Heritage and Supercuts on the second floor also remained closed.

But 98 per cent of the mall’s more-than-250 stores have re- opened for business, the mall said on Monday.

Japanese clothing store Uniqlo, which is in the basement, reopened on Monday. Its store manager said external contractors took two days to clear the mess caused by the fire.

“It was flooded all across the floor. The water was about 2cm deep. We had to clear the water and separate the products that were affected,” he said. “But business has returned to normal for us.”

A supervisor for Chateau De Sable, a kids’ apparel store on Level 2 that re-opened on Friday, said: “The clothes that were on display have all been removed.

They were covered in soot and had a burnt smell,” she said.

No one was hurt during the blaze, but it damaged the mall’s fire protection system cabling, which had to be replaced.

The mall was closed for four days for inspections and tests last week.

Housewife and Marine Parade resident Sheila Naidu, 53, was glad to be back at the mall on Monday.

“Except for a slight burnt smell on the second floor, it doesn’t seem like there had been a fire. People are still streaming in, like any other day,” she said.

xueqiang@sph.com.sg

mellinjm@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on May 25, 2016.
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The number of workplace deaths this year has hit 32, six more than in the same period last year.

The latest took place yesterday, bringing to four the number of fatalities after stiffer penalties for employers with safety lapses came into force two weeks ago.

A man in his 50s died at his workplace in Kee Seng Street, a day after a 23-year-old construction worker was killed by a falling steel truss.

The prevalence of workplace fatalities has prompted the authorities to raise penalties for offenders, but observers say much more needs to be done to step up safe work practices and prevent further deaths.

“We are deeply concerned with the recent spate of fatalities,” Minister of State for Manpower Sam Tan told The Straits Times yesterday. “We will continue to take strong enforcement actions against errant employers and will prosecute those who are found liable for the accidents. We call on employers and workers to work together to take all measures to prevent further workplace accidents.”

The Manpower Ministry (MOM) announced on May 12 that it would raise the minimum time for companies ordered to stop work, from two to three weeks.

Companies also risk being deprived of new foreign workers until they have resolved safety issues.

The Singapore Contractors Association hit back at the move a week later, saying the stiffer penalties would worsen the “dire situation for meeting deadlines and financial penalties” for errant companies.

Yesterday, its executive director, Mr Lam Kong Hong, stuck to his position, calling for preventive rather than punitive measures: “A longer stop-work order could aggravate the contractor’s inability to meet a deadline, and it might have to rush the job even more. That would impose a potentially higher risk.”

He also said workers might suffer a pay cut with a longer stop-work order, as they cannot clock overtime.

Two labour MPs said the spate of workplace fatalities was a “worrying trend”, but said draconian measures alone would not work.

West Coast GRC MP Patrick Tay, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Manpower, said human error was a key cause of these fatalities.

“It could be mere carelessness or fatigue, or it could be negligence and complacency,” he said. “A company can have many standard operating procedures but it boils down to every single worker.”

Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Zainal Sapari, the GPC’s deputy chairman, called for the training quality for safety officers to be enhanced.

“While you can engender a safety culture among your own workers, you also need to ensure you engage your subcontractors in systems, structures and processes that promote work safety,” he added.

Singapore Institution of Safety Officers president Bernard Soh said it was all very well for company management to commit to better safety, but often this did not trickle down to the workers.

Safety bulletins put up at sites can be too wordy, he said. “I don’t think the worker would understand everything even if he knows a bit of English. Safety officers need to translate things to workers at team meetings, in bite-size pieces of information,” he said.

Safety officers said they are stepping up efforts in the wake of the recent deaths and tougher measures.

Vigcon Construction safety officer Mohammad Hidayat Hamzah said it has increased worksite safety inspections from once to twice a week, and doubled the number of officers doing checks.

Advocacy groups for foreign workers, who form the bulk of construction and marine workers here, said more has to be done to regulate working conditions.

Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home) executive director Jolovan Wham said fatigue played a significant but underrated role.

“If you have to work 12 hours or more every day, seven days a week, no matter how careful you are, you will make mistakes, lapses will occur, and accidents will happen.”

He added that workers were reluctant to speak out against safety lapses as it might cost them their jobs.

Workers interviewed were not aware of the rise in fatalities, but were concerned about accidents.

Said Indian national Palanimuthu Palaivalathan, 31: “If we get injured, we can’t work and the company won’t give us our salary.”

Bangladeshi electrical worker Md Ontu Islam, 27, said: “When accidents happen, sometimes it’s the worker, sometimes it’s the site, sometimes boss pushes too hard.”

But no worker wants to be hurt.

“If I get injured, how can I give my family money?” said Mr Ontu.

“This is what every worker thinks. Everyone thinks of safety.”

• Additional reporting by Aleysa John and Jessie Lim

oliviaho@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on May 25, 2016.
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Mr Johnny See Lam Huat had sued his younger brother for encroaching on his business by trying to sell products that were nearly identical to his in markets that he had already cultivated, such as Africa.

The High Court disagreed he had a grievance, but the Court of Appeal has now reversed that decision.

But the 55-year-old businessman was not there to hear the good news – he was killed in a car crash in Johor last July.

His fight was continued by his widow, Madam Ngoi Mei Lan.

Madam Ngoi, 43, who now runs the firm, said yesterday: “My husband, Johnny, would be very happy with the judgment of the Court of Appeal, coming when Singsung, the company he founded, is celebrating its 10th anniversary.”

The Court of Appeal, in judgment grounds released yesterday, found that the younger brother, Mr See Lam Seng, “was seeking to latch on to and take advantage of (Johnny’s company’s) efforts not just in selecting profitable devices, but also to appropriate to itself the value which (Johnny’s company) had created through its marketing activities by misrepresenting an association with (Johnny’s company).”

Both brothers were partners in a company called S H Econ Electrical Trading, formed in 1998 to sell electrical goods to customers abroad.

The two split and, in 2006, Johnny set up Singsung, operating the same sort of business.

Three years later, Mr See Lam Seng, working in a nearby shophouse, incorporated LG26 Electronics. Adopting the brand name, LS, he sourced similar products from China to sell in Africa as well.

The appeal court noted that the younger Mr See had intended to enter “those export markets where (Johnny) was already successfully trading and to sell goods which looked identical in appearance to the Singsung products, save that a different brand name was applied”.

The court, comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Judges of Appeal Chao Hick Tin and Andrew Phang, found he intended to deceive end-users and pass off its goods as being those of the appellant’s.

LS products were “inherently deceptive, in that by adopting indicia distinctive of the appellant, they tell a lie about themselves,” wrote the Chief Justice on the court’s behalf.

The court also overturned the High Court ruling and held that Mr See Lam Seng, defended by lawyer Philip Ling, had breached copyright in the use of two of three items in dispute.

The court set aside a High Court order against the late Mr See for making a groundless threat under the Copyright Act against his brother, and suggested this area of the law could do with possible reform.

The court, among other things, ordered damages payable to Singsung to be assessed.

Madam Ngoi, represented by lawyer Adrian Tan said: “We developed Singsung to one of the most famous brands in Africa. Although he has since passed away, we know that he would have been very grateful to the court for protecting his brand that he built from scratch.”

vijayan@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on May 25, 2016.
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The boss of an employment agency being investigated by the authorities has responded to defend his business. “We are not cheating (anyone),” said Mr Kalai Chelvan, managing director of Amaicre.

Two weeks ago, the Manpower Ministry (MOM) said it was investigating the agency for possible breaches of licensing conditions.

The police are also investigating reports made by four Bangladeshi foreign workers who paid the agency $11,000 in total between 2013 and 2014 for jobs in Canada. The jobs did not materialise.

Mr Kalai said the workers got impatient and made the police reports without talking to him. “It takes one to two years to get a job in Canada,” said the 52-year-old Singapore permanent resident.

While job seekers will get a refund if their applications for jobs in Canada are unsuccessful, they must pay $1,500 in consultation fees if they cannot wait and choose to terminate the applications, said Mr Kalai.

He also denied allegations that the jobs offered were non-existent. “They are still being processed,” he said. But he was unable to show The Straits Times any application form or contract for the jobs purportedly offered. Instead, he said to contact his Canadian agent.

His agent Norman Douglas, who runs Can-X Immigration & Consultant, replied in an e-mail that he offered farm jobs to Mr Kalai in 2014, but said the Canadian government had changed its policy and delayed the approvals.

Of the four workers who went to the police, Mr Kalai said he has returned $500 to a worker who paid $1,000. The other three workers who paid $3,000 each will get a $2,000 refund each from June, in four monthly $500 instalments.

The Small Claims Court ordered the settlements after the workers took Mr Kalai to court.

The Malaysian businessman, who has been working in Singapore for more than 20 years, said he started Amacre Associates as a maid agency in 2013.

MOM records showed that the agency found work here for 67 maids and 27 foreign workers in the past one year. Of the six demerit points that MOM slapped on him, he said it occurred in 2013 over incorrect paperwork.

Mr Kalai claimed to have helped two Filipinos find work in Canada in 2014 and 2015, as a construction worker and a caregiver, but was unable to put The Straits Times in touch with them. They have changed their contact numbers, he said.

The agency changed its name to Amaicre in December last year, but Mr Kalai said it had nothing to do with the police reports. “It was because of fengshui.”

It moved out of Lucky Plaza last month after the lease of its main and temporary offices ended. When ST visited him at his new Far East Plaza office last week, there was no signboard or electricity supply.

Company records showed that the agency, which has a paid-up capital of $100,000, is owned by Mr Kalai and Filipino Venus Emperado Apas in equal shares.

The 38-year-old businesswoman has been working in Singapore for 11 years. “I am just an investor… I got nothing to do with this,” she said of her role in the firm.

Meanwhile, Mr Kalai said he will stop taking new requests for job placements overseas until his backlog of 15 cases are settled in the next six months.

“All the publicity has affected me,” he said. “You need to help me clear my name.”

Both the police and MOM said investigations are ongoing.

tohyc@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on May 25, 2016.
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