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SINGAPORE: The Bangladeshi doctor Rayhan, who worked in Singapore for seven years, has been trapped in his village in the Bhola district since March.
He saw his family again after leaving his previous job and was due to return to Singapore on March 21 to start working with a new employer.
But on March 18, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) announced that both new and existing job pass holders had to get their approval before traveling to Singapore. This was implemented in accordance with additional border restrictions put in place as Singapore battled an increase in imported COVID-19 cases.
Rayhan said his new employer, O2r Fire Systems, has repeatedly, unsuccessfully, requested that he enter Singapore. Its approval in principle will expire on December 31.
An approval in principle is issued when a work permit is approved, and employers have to bring in workers during the validity period stated in the document.
“My bad luck,” Mr. Rayhan told CNA by phone.
“(It’s) hard to live now,” he added, explaining that he has spent around S $ 4,200 in savings and borrowed another S $ 3,000 from a friend to support his family of seven: his parents, three sisters, his wife and the same.
He said there are no jobs in his hometown right now.
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For some workers like Matharan Subbiah, who worked in Singapore for 16 years, their work permit expired in November as they waited months to return to work here.
He had traveled to India in February to take a break (he hadn’t seen his family in two years) and booked a return ticket to Singapore in April. With the expiration of your work permit, you are no longer officially considered an employee of Kongsberg Technology, the contractor you worked for.
While Mr. Subbiah found work helping his neighbors build their houses in a district of Tamil Nadu, he earns only 400 rupees (S $ 7.25) a day, less than a tenth of what he used to earn as a project coordinator in Singapore.
The money, along with the $ 2,000 he borrowed from his brother, is enough to support his mother, wife and three-year-old daughter, he said, but life remains “very difficult.”
View of the floors built to order from the board of houses under construction. (Photo: Jeremy Long)
His former employer, Mr. Sim Kian Eng, is equally eager for him to return to Singapore and plans to rehire him once the opportunity arises. Like other contractors, the CEO of Kongsberg Technology desperately needs workers.
Construction companies face a backlog of projects as they were allowed to fully resume activities in August following the COVID-19 “circuit breaker”. Companies are under pressure to meet project deadlines or face costly fines.
Aside from employees stuck overseas after going home to take a break, new workers have also been slow to enter due to border restrictions.
COMPLETE SEARCH FOR WORKERS
Mr. Sim has 35 workers in Singapore and another six abroad, including those whose work passes have expired. He said he needs eight to ten more workers.
It has applied for workers through a recruitment agency and the Singapore Contractors Association Limited (SCAL) Construction Labor Exchange, a platform for companies to hire workers already in Singapore. He has not received any positive response.
To cope with the labor shortage, its workers have been working longer hours with overtime pay.
“The tension has not yet come,” Sin said, but his company expects “some big projects” to start early next year.
Roadworks underway in Singapore. (Photo: Gaya Chandramohan)
O2r Fire System founder Chan Chi Lon, who is Rayhan’s employer, said he had to abandon a project recently because he was unable to pay the customer’s price.
Costs have risen because he had to hire more subcontractors to work on his projects. Before the COVID-19 restrictions, you could simply hire more workers.
WATCH: Construction companies deal with labor and cash flow issues as clearance to restart work
Chan has 18 workers with a work permit and S Pass in Singapore, but he wants to double that number.
The plan for 2020 was to expand the business for two years. Instead, it can only take on enough projects to sustain it, especially when the months ahead are still uncertain, he said.
Without the likes of Rayhan, who was supposed to start working as a security supervisor, Chan is looking to companies specializing in security work to ask if they can allow some of their employees to do it on an interim basis. But it is hopeless, as other companies are also facing the same problem.
One positive side, he noted, is that none of his workers have left his company, perhaps because he did not cut their wages during the circuit breaker, he said.
You have heard of workers moving to another job that claims to offer a higher salary. Under current rules, workers whose work permits expire between 21 and 40 days can transfer to another company without the consent of their current employer.
MOM GRADUALLY RESUMES PROCESSING REQUESTS
Both MOM and SCAL have recognized the problem. In an October circular, the construction body said several members have informed them of a growing number of workers who “seek to transfer to other companies without the knowledge or consent of the current employer, requesting higher wages.”
In November, MOM sent a notice to contractors saying it was aware of the labor limitations.
He advised employers to keep their existing workers by working out “mutually acceptable terms in advance” and reminded them that they could renew job passes as early as two months before they expired.
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In a joint statement to the CNA, MOM and the Buildings and Construction Authority (BCA) said Singapore limited entry approvals for work pass holders to reduce the risk of imported COVID-19 cases and protect public health. .
Given current labor supply problems, MOM has gradually resumed processing new job pass applications from countries with lower health risks, such as China, the statement said. The authorities also indicated that companies could use SCAL’s transfer program.
“We will continue to adjust our border measures taking into account comments from the industry on its need for new foreign workers and as the global situation evolves,” they said.
India and Bangladesh, where many of Singapore’s migrant workers come from, are still struggling to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.
The ministry and BCA did not respond to inquiries about how many applications for entry by work permit holders are approved daily.
WORKERS LOOKING FOR A HIGHER PAY
After four workers were robbed by other employers in the past two months, CHC Construction founder Laurence Liau quickly renewed the rest of his workers’ job passes more than 40 days before their expiration date.
During those two months, he said that five or six other people had applied to leave after their work passes ended.
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To motivate the rest to stay, Liau said he increased the salary of about 90 workers by about 20 percent, which is equivalent to a five-digit sum each month.
He has also turned down eight projects so far, fearing damages if his current team can’t handle them all, unless he can get another 20 to 30 workers.
If the supply of labor continues to shrink, Liau said he may have no choice but to lay off staff members in managerial positions.
Danny Gay, director of recruiting agency MCI Consulting, said he and his team are often the ones who call on contractors to offer their services. But since September, it has been inundated with worker applications and has agreed to help some 50 companies search for 200 workers in total.
He added that each week, about 20 workers approach his company requesting to be transferred to another employer. But only fewer than 10 are adequate, he said. The rest have not sought the consent of their bosses or insist on an extremely high salary.
Workers have also had the opportunity to negotiate with their new employers for better wages, Gay said. Before the pandemic, their average salaries ranged from S $ 550 to S $ 600. Now, it is between S $ 750 and S $ 800.
Unfortunately, he said, there is “not much employers can do” to ease the burden.
“Every day when contractors meet, we ask them, ‘Do you have a worker?’ Everyone (is) asking the same question, ”Liau lamented. “There is no solution.”
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