MP Png: Discrimination against hiring of SG crane operators

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MP Png: Discrimination against hiring of SG crane operators

March 8th, 2014 | Author: Editorial

Hougang MP Png Eng Huat


Last year, the National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan made a call to recruit more local crane operators in the construction sector.

It was reported that only half of the 3,600 crane operators here are Singaporeans. Mr Khaw then said that as a crane operator, one can earn good salary of between $4,000 to $7,000 a month with overtime pay and allowance.
Yesterday (7 Mar) in Parliament, WP MP for Hougang, Mr Png Eng Huat, told the House a very different story with regard to the employment situation for Singaporean crane operators.

Mr Png revealed that a Singaporean tower crane operator came to see him recently at his MPS. The crane operator said that many companies in the construction sector are still hiring “more foreign crane operators not less”.

“These foreign workers are cheaper and can work longer hours. As a result, salaries came down and many of his operator friends are unable to secure full time work. Some of his friends work only 2 times a week. He handed me a letter with the names of 46 tower crane operators pleading for help,” Mr Png said.

“Last night, I met a fellow diner at the hawker centre near my house and I found out he is also a crane operator. He added that foreign construction companies tend to hire their own people to operate cranes. He also felt that the number of foreign crane operators has not come down despite the move to train more local crane operators.”

Singaporeans being discriminated by foreign companies or foreign hiring managers is not new. According to a survey conducted by recruitment firm eFinancialCareers in October last year, large number of companies in the finance industry are actually discriminating against Singaporean hires. According to the survey, a majority or 52% of the respondents said their companies had favoured foreigners for some job openings (‘Survey confirms rampant job discrimination against SGs‘).

In fact, the situation was so bad that 2 Cabinet Ministers had to have a “friendly talk” with senior members of the financial industry on this matter. Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin told Parliament in March last year that he and Finance Minister Tharman had met senior members of the financial industry to urge them to develop a local talent pipeline.

Mr Tan said, without going into specifics, that there had been complaints of foreign managers preferring to hire their own countrymen and his ministry was investigating the matter.

And from Mr Png’s accounts, it looks like such discriminatory practices have spread to crane operators as well.

Mr Png also revealed that the reason for the increase in hiring of foreign crane operators is due to the government’s relaxation of foreign quota.

He said, “The reliance on foreign crane operators will never come down despite the call to train and hire more Singaporeans. This is because BCA has launched a temporary initiative to relax the recruitment of foreign crane operators at the same time when it launched an initiative to attract more Singaporeans to join the trade.”

Under the relaxed ruling, Mr Png revealed that for every 1 new local crane operator hired and trained, a company can now recruit up to 4 new foreign crane operators.

“This will probably explain why people are seeing more foreign crane operators and not less,” he said.

Mr Png added, “Putting the 2 initiatives side by side, the percentage of Singaporean crane operators in the construction sector will come down significantly over time. So the call to reduce reliance on foreign crane operators will not happen any time soon.”

“I would like to ask the Minister when we can see an improvement in this sector,” he asked Minister Khaw.

Mr Png also mentioned that LTA and HDB often require tower crane operators to have at least 5 years of experience to improve safety.

“So, the idea of hiring and training new local crane operators is not going to make sense for companies bidding for major public projects,” he said.

“Some have called for the 5-year experience requirement to be reviewed and replaced with the number of hours an operator clocked at work as a better gauge of safety regulation. This idea is worth exploring because an experience pilot is known for the number of flying hours he clocked and not by how long he had his licence,” Mr Png proposed.

Mr Png urged the government to look into the matter so that more local tower crane operators can qualify to work on major projects sooner rather than later.

He also urged Minister Khaw to look into helping local crane operators find their footing in the industry and if necessary, set in place rules to protect them so that they can have job security.

“It does not make sense for the Government to encourage more locals to become crane operators but there are few jobs for them at the end of the day,” Mr Png concluded in his Parliamentary speech.


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