Unhappy Workers Who Turn Rowdy Cautioned

Today ran this story on 28 April 2009:

A stern warning for mob
By Lin Yanqin and Teo Xuanwei

CROWDS of unpaid, unhappy foreign workers seeking help have become a common sight at the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) Building in recent months.

But a mob of workers from China who turned rowdy yesterday elicited a stern warning from MOM: Break the law again, and not only will it delay your case, we’ll refer you to the police.

Some 200 workers from Raffles Contractors, Hokh Contract Services and Neo-Built Pte Ltd — the same group interviewed by MOM officers on Friday — had assembled at the Havelock Road premises in the morning seeking updates.

When asked to proceed to MOM’s Kim Seng Road office so their concerns could be investigated, about 40 did so, but 130 refused to leave.

“They were uncooperative and behaved in a rowdy manner, impeding the access of the public to MOM Building, and making a nuisance of themselves. These workers insisted on immediate resolution of their demands,” said MOM in a statement.

Despite numerous attempts at persuasion, the workers refused to leave, prompting MOM to call the police four hours later around 1.30pm.

When Today was there, officers in blue moved through the crowd, talking with workers who argued with them. Eventually, the workers were herded across the road where some still stood, refusing to budge.

“We have no money for food, and we can’t even pay for our rent anymore,” said Mr Xu, 40, from Zhejiang, who had worked for Hokh Contract Services for nine months before his contract was terminated. “They still owe me $3,000 in wages. I paid about 50,000 yuan ($11,000) to come here and work. What am I going to do?”

MOM repeated its assurance it was striving to “help workers sooner rather than later” on wage disputes, but such behaviour on their part was unproductive, only serving “to delay the resolution of their claims”.

“If these workers gather at MOM again without prior appointments and without valid reasons, MOM will immediately refer them to the police,” warned the ministry.

MOM added that it sought a “fair resolution” to all claims and thus, would need to establish the facts of the case before exploring a settlement between employers and workers.