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SINGAPORE – Mustafa Center will send its foreign workers whose work passes have expired home as their business has been badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company will also stop paying employees who have not been called to work a “living allowance,” believed to be $ 300 per month, and urged this group of staff to take a second job for income.
In a letter addressed to all the employees of the Mustafa group and its related companies, the managing director and founder Mustaq Ahmad said that the company cannot renew the work passes of its foreign workers and will pay for their ticket back home.
It will give these foreign workers one month’s basic salary as a sample, Mustaq said in the letter dated August 27 and seen by The Straits Times on Sunday (August 30).
“We regret having to resort to these decisions, but we hope that companies will return to normalcy as soon as possible,” Mustaq said.
ST has contacted the Mustafa group for details on how many of its local and foreign employees are affected by the measures.
In the letter, Mustaq said the company will stop paying the living allowance, given to staff since June, starting October 1, as it needs to cut payroll costs.
Businesses have been badly affected by the coronavirus, he said, noting that not all employees are able to return to work due to reduced opening hours and strict safe distancing measures at the popular shopping center.
“We do not expect our business to go back to the pre-Covid days as our international borders are closed. It will take longer than expected,” Mustaq added.
A store manager, who did not want to be named, said business has plummeted to just 20 percent from what it used to be before Covid-19.
Tourists and foreign workers used to be the store’s main source of income, but “they have almost disappeared,” the manager said.
Mustaq, who noted that some staff members have started to find work elsewhere, said the company will waive notice periods for resignations and will give quitters a month’s base salary as a token of appreciation.
The company is also working with the Singapore Trade and Manual Workers Union, the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and NTUC to help its staff find work, he said.
ST has contacted the National Congress of Trade Unions for comment.
The problems at the six-story shopping center along Syed Alwi Road in Little India began after it was identified as a Covid-19 cluster and closed on April 2.
It is believed to have been the starting point for thousands of coronavirus infections in the dormitories of foreign workers. The workers likely became infected after visiting the facility, where some employees had fallen ill, and set off a chain of infections between coworkers and roommates.
Mustafa Center reopened on May 6 with reduced opening hours from 9:30 am to 11:30 pm, with the intention of eventually resuming its 24-hour operations.
But nearly four months later, the mall has not, due to high operating costs and a lack of cash flow due to plummeting visitor numbers.
While there were still some shoppers in the store when ST visited the Mustafa Center on Sunday, it was noticeably less busy, with no need to queue to enter the premises.
Sundays were typically the busiest days for Mustafa Center, with many foreign workers shopping there on their day off. But this source of business has largely been shut down, and most dormitory workers are confined to their rooms due to Covid-19.
Several payment counters were unmanned and not working, and there were hardly any queues at the counters that were open.
Mustafa Center staff that ST spoke to on Sunday said they were unaware of their colleagues being sent home, but added that the footprints are far from what they used to be.
Said the manager: “Without these tourists and foreigners, it is unlikely that we will be able to stay open or continue working for much longer. Although now we can be open 24 hours, it does not make sense, because there is no one to come to buy.” . “
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