14 PAP town councils’ conservancy workers to get written job contracts

Written by Writer on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

14 PAP town councils’ conservancy workers to get written job contracts

By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 10 November 2008

SINGAPORE : Fourteen People’s Action Party town councils are working with the Manpower Ministry to roll out written employment contracts for local conservancy workers.

Some 900 such workers stand to benefit by the end of next month from this move which will ensure essential terms such as salary, Central Provident Fund contribution and working hours are set down in black and white.

According to a joint statement by the 14 town councils, North West Community Development Council and the Manpower Ministry, this will help them if they need to seek redress for unpaid basic salary or overtime pay.

Currently, such workers, like cleaners, do not have any written agreement with their employers.

Another 950 workers will be employed under these new performance-based contracts next year once the conservancy companies they work for are engaged by the town councils under new tender specifications.

Under the new specifications, the town councils will not award cleaning service contracts solely based on price, but a combination of both price and quality.

Besides introducing performance-based contracts for their workers, conservancy companies will also be required to submit monthly returns to the town councils on their workers’ renumeration, CPF contributions and training status, for verification by the town councils’ field auditors.

These new requirements are part of efforts by the town councils, National Trades Union Congress and Workforce Development Agency to raise the skills levels and remuneration of Singapore’s conservancy workers.

It is also part of the overall push to encourage the conservancy companies to train and retrain their workers, abide by principles of fair employment and adopt a code of responsible employment practices. - CNA/ms