I refer to La Fondue is one of the 15 firms barred from hiring foreigners for 6 months.
One of my friends in the IT line said that he was initially excited that MOM is finally waking up and doing their job.
For those working in IT line, many know that this field is very vulnerable to foreigners.
However, he was disappointed that Minister Tan Chuan Jin only targeted small companies in their list. I also feel that Minister Tan should try to give these small companies a respite.
I have also attended a few job interviews with small companies and during some candid interviews, the Singaporean bosses really have to depend on foreigners to survive. One Singapore boss said that ever since JTC changed hands to Mapletree Industrial, his rent shot up by 50 per cent and many Singaporeans prefer to work in larger companies with better prospects and medical/dental benefits.
On the other hand, it is no secret that many larger companies openly discriminate against Singaporeans. One of my friends in HR said she attended some HR seminars organised by Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) and said that she saw many Pinoy HR ladies from Seagate, 3M, NCS who are also there.
For a person to specialise in HR, one must know Singapore’s Employment Act, CPF Rules, Compensation and Benefits and IRAS policies to do well in his job.
When you have a Pinoy HR lady who knows nuts about Singapore laws, one can only suspect that these companies tend to prefer to hire Pinoys instead of Singaporeans.
And it is quite true. If you ask anyone who works in National Computer Singapore NCS, you will be surprised that half of the IT staff are from Philippines.
And if you walk to Changi Business Park to have lunch, you will probably have to eat Indian curry for lunch as most of their IT staff are from India who are hired by DBS, Standard Chartered and Citibank to do their backend work.
So why is Minister Tan still hesitant to take on these big companies and put them on the hot stove? Is it because many of the PAP-linked people sit on the boards of these big firms?
CJ
TRS Contributor