SEAMEN'S REGISTRY BOARD (AMENDMENT) BILL

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Order for Second Reading read.

The Deputy Prime Minister (Dr Toh Chin Chye): Mr Speaker, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

It may be of benefit to the House if I were to give a resume of the present practice of registering seamen for employment.

Registered seamen are offered for selection in accordance with their priority on a roster. The employer is presented with his requirements plus 50 per cent subject to a minimum of two men. For example, if he requires four men, he is given a choice of six men. If the employer fails to complete his requirements from the first selection, he is given a second and last selection on the same basis.

Seamen are permitted to refuse two offers of employment without any penalty. If a third offer of employment is refused, the seamen's name is removed to the bottom of the roster.

Under the existing provisions of Section 4 of the Seamen's Registry Board Ordinance, 1957, the Board is required to enter a registered seaman's name in the roster according to the date of discharge from his last ship or, if the person concerned has not been previously employed as a seaman, then in accordance with the date of his registration as a seaman. This section provides that the Board may sub-divide a roster or rosters into such categories as it may consider necessary.

The existing provision which requires that a registered seaman shall have his name entered in the roster according to the date of discharge from his last ship causes, in certain circumstances, some dissatisfaction among the seamen. An example of this can be seen as follows:-

A seaman may be discharged from a ship on 1st January and he applies to the Board for three months' leave of absence. On reporting back to the Board after the expiry of his leave, the Ordinance provides that the seaman be replaced on the roster with effect from 1st January. Seamen who have been discharged after 1st January, and who had not taken leave, and have been reporting regularly for employment find that this particular person who had gone away on leave is still placed ahead of them. They feel quite naturally that those who had asked for leave and taken such leave should not be given preference over them in the roster. In a similar manner, a seaman who has been suspended for disciplinary offences would under the existing provision, after the period of suspension, be placed on the roster ahead of seamen who have not been under suspension. This again causes extreme dissatisfaction among seamen.

The amendment Bill seeks to delete the requirement that the Board shall enter the seamen's names in the roster in accordance with the date of discharge from their last ship. The Board intends to specify the various conditions and methods of placing seamen on the roster in the Regulations which the Board is empowered to make with the approval of the Minister.

To overcome these various anomalies and dissatisfaction caused by them, the Board intends that the names of registered seamen shall be entered in the appropriate roster in the following manner: -

(a) in the case of seamen, who have not been previously registered, according to the date of registration;

(b) in the case of seamen, who have been granted leave of absence by the Board for any reason other than that of illness, according to the date of reporting to the Board, after the expiry of their leave;

(c) in the case of seamen, who have had their registration suspended, according to the date of reporting to the Board after the period of suspension; and

(d) in the case of seamen, who have been discharged from their ship, according to the date of reporting to the Board after they had been discharged from the ship: Provided that in the case of a registered seaman, who has been discharged from the ship without any culpability on his part after a period of employment of less than two months, the Board may, at its absolute discretion, decide the position in which the name of such registered seaman shall be entered in the appropriate roster.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole Assembly.

Assembly immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. -[Dr Toh Chin Chye].

Bill considered in Committee; reported, without amendment; read a Third time and passed.