STEPS TO ASSIST/PREVENT FOREIGN WORKERS STRANDED IN SINGAPORE

Mr Zulkifli bin Baharudin asked the Minister for the Environment if he will consider asking the Indonesian government to issue more regular updates on the progress of its efforts to control forest fires in Indonesia.

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: The Indonesian State Ministry for the Environment has, in fact, been providing weekly situation updates on efforts to control land and forest fires since the beginning of October 1997. The problem has not been providing information, but implementing effective measures against the fires. As stated several times by the Indonesian State Minister for the Environment, the Indonesian authorities face problems enforcing the laws against the use of fire by big plantation owners to clear plantation land. And once the fires take hold and rage over a large area, they are very difficult to put out. The problem has also been exacerbated by the drought brought on by the El Nino phenomenon.

Mr Shriniwas Rai asked the Minister for Labour what steps the Government is taking to assist and prevent foreign workers from being stranded in Singapore by the premature termination of their services.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Investigations by my Ministry show that the majority of stranded foreign workers were construction workers whose work permits were cancelled because their employers default on levy payments. A small number were waiting for their salary disputes with employers to be settled.

My Ministry will help foreign workers who were left stranded when their employers fail to pay the foreign worker levy. We will try to find alternative employment and accommodation for them. In the recent Chander Road case, we were able to assist more than 200 foreign workers with alternative employment and accommodation. This was achieved with the cooperation of the Singapore Police, the Singapore Contractors' Association Limited (SCAL) and main contractors who agreed to employ the foreign workers or re-assign them to their other sub-contractors.

Unscrupulous employers who abandon their workers run the risk of having the $5,000 security bond forfeited. This is on the ground that they have infringed one of the conditions of the bond which is to provide proper accommodation for their foreign workers while they are in Singapore. Such employers will also not be allowed to employ foreign workers. Their applications for work permits will be rejected to prevent recurrence of abuse.

The problem of stranded foreign workers is often caused by unscrupulous employers who recruit foreign construction workers mainly to profit from the monetary kickback from foreign and local employment agents. These employers are usually sub-contractors or labour suppliers masquerading as sub-contractors. Often they obtain the work permits by overstating or even falsifying their workload claims.

My Ministry has studied these malpractices and we have already announced measures to prevent such abuses. Last month, I announced that next year, we will implement a revised work permit allocation system which allocates foreign worker entitlements directly to main contractors only. The main contractor can then use their entitlement to employ foreign workers directly or allocate all or part of the entitlement to their sub-contractors. In this way, main contractors will have direct control of the foreign workers engaged for their projects. They will also have to take care to ensure that the sub-contractors to whom they allocate work permit entitlements are actually working on their project. The new work permit allocation system will minimise opportunity for abuses.

Pending the implementation of the new work permit allocation system, my Ministry will also tighten the current endorsement procedures for work permit applications. Presently, both main and sub-contractors can apply for foreign workers directly from CIDB. Although main contractors are required to endorse the work permit applications of their sub-contractors, many do so without proper scrutiny. Henceforth, we will refer applications by sub-contractors to their main contractors for verification and support. Main contractors will also be required to undertake to employ and provide accommodation to foreign workers of their sub-contractors should the latter subsequently abandon their workers. This measure will compel main contractors to scrutinise the work permit applications of their sub-contractors carefully.

Besides tightening the application system, MOL will consider introducing an additional security deposit for levy payment to deal with sub-contractors who are habitually late in their levy payments or who had defaulted on payments.

The above measures will minimise abuses of foreign workers and ensure that employers do not abandon their foreign workers. However, should this happen, my Ministry will ensure that the foreign workers' welfare is safeguarded. We will help those who wish to continue working in Singapore to find new employers. Apart from placing them with their main contractors and sub-contractors, the Ministry will require applicants for new work permit to consider these displaced workers before bringing new foreign workers to Singapore.

I would like to assure the House that my Ministry will not tolerate the actions of unscrupulous employers who abandon their foreign workers. My Ministry takes a very serious view of unsavoury labour practices and will not hesitate to deal with such employers firmly.