Educating Foreign Workers on Available Channels to Settle Wage Disputes and Laws against Illegal Assembly

2 Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for Manpower whether foreign workers in Singapore have been informed of (i) the available channels to seek recourse against their employers who failed to pay their salaries and (ii) the law against illegal assembly.

The Senior Minister of State for Manpower (Mr Zaqy Mohamad) (for the Minister for Manpower): Mr Deputy Speaker, to help Migrant Workers (MWs) overcome the unfamiliarity of working in a new country, MOM requires them to attend the Settling-in Programme, or SIP, within two weeks of their arrival in Singapore. Conducted in native languages, the SIP educates MWs comprehensively on their employment rights, support channels, as well as on lawful and responsible behaviour, including the law against unlawful assembly or procession in public places.

The education of MWs does not stop at the SIP. MOM has developed a comprehensive MW guide, monthly newsletters as well as various infographics in native languages on topics, such as salary payment and channels to seek help. MOM and its partners also routinely disseminate information through online and physical platforms, for example, FWMOMCare application, social media posts, roadshows as well as events, to remind MWs of their employment rights and encourage those with employment issues to seek help from MOM and the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) for salary claims.

MWs with salary arrears may also approach the Forward Assurance and Support Team (FAST) officers or Friends of ACE (FACE). These are volunteers at the dormitories. Or they can also inform MOM through the monthly salary survey on the FWMOMCare app. The majority of MWs are registered users of the app. Unions and NGOs, such as the Migrant Workers’ Centre which operates a hotline, are another source of support for MWs and can advise MWs on the avenues of help and work with MOM to render the necessary assistance to MWs.

The number of salary claims filed by MWs has come down significantly in recent years. On average, in 2022, TADM handles about 160 salary claims from MWs each month, compared to 410 in 2019, pre-COVID-19.

Nonetheless, we recognise the importance of timely payment of salaries to all workers and we will continue our efforts to arrest salary arrears early and assist all workers, both local and foreign, to promptly recover their owed salaries.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Lim Biow Chuan.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten): Thank you. Sir, I am concerned that foreign workers choose to make public their personal grievances or disputes with the companies because of non-payment of their salaries. Whilst I am sympathetic towards their concern, may I ask the Senior Minister of State whether MOM would be working with MHA to take action against companies that fail to pay the salaries and also the workers who choose to take the law into their own hands and make public protests? Would MOM be working with the Police to prosecute such workers?

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: I gather that the Member is referring to the recent incident on 18 October 2022. Specific to the incident, I am unable to give too much detail as the Police investigations are still ongoing. What I will say is this: pertaining to salary claims, we take a very strong view and a strong principle that when a worker is owed salary, he must be paid. That is quite clear.

Of the 10 workers that were involved in the incident, five of them had salary claims. The other five and the rest of the employees in Zhengda Corporation actually have no salary claims. They are all okay and they were not owed any salary payments. So, to a certain extent, that is good.

For those who were owed salary payments, we have assisted them to settle all the payments. So, that has been settled, once they come to MOM and we tried to mediate. But, in fact, we go one step further. In this case, we also investigated their main contractor – because these are subcontractors servicing the main contractor. We found that the main contractor, Shanghai Chong Kee, owed salary payments to 268 MWs. So, we moved upstream and found out about that and we have been assisting the workers. As at 31 October, Shanghai Chong Kee had settled the owed payments and we are working with them on the payment schedule for the rest.

So, it is not that the employer had deliberately held back the payments but we understand that during these challenging times, sometimes, payments are delayed. I think we all know the challenges the construction sector is facing. So, we try to mediate and see how we can best come to a middle ground and settle. If we push too hard, the company folds and it is not good for the workers, too.

Rest assured that most of the payments have already been paid. The owed salaries are partially settled; and we are now settling the rest and there is an instalment plan being worked out. We will handle that aspect.

For public order, MHA is fully apprised of the incident and is doing investigations and will take appropriate actions if necessary.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Louis Ng.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): One way forward, in terms of this salary dispute, is to ensure that MWs are paid electronically. Could I ask the Senior Minister of State for an update on what percentage of MWs are now paid electronically and whether we can completely fill the gap and make it 100%?

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: I thank the Member for his question. Since April 2020, when we had the circuit breaker and we made the commitment that all workers were going to be paid, we introduced a requirement for all employers to pay salary electronically for their MWs, especially those who are residing in dormitories. Today, I would say that almost all employers are already doing so. And this is up from 75%, pre-COVID-19. So, I think we have made that improvement in the last couple of years.

Among the small minority of employers who have yet to switch, some indicated administrative issues, while others cited workers' preference for receiving salary in cash. But I would say this, that almost all are now on electronic payment. So, we have made that progress and I just want to thank all the employers for working with us on this.