"Although foreign workers can technically join a trade union in Singapore, they cannot hold office or be employed by the union. Moreover, Singapore’s National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) is state-controlled body that does not see its job as representing the interests of workers, and especially not migrant workers. As Yeo Guat Kwang, the co-chairman of the NTUC’s migrant workers centre told CLB in a 2010 interview, migrant worker rights will always be subordinated to the national interest: When we look at the migrant workers’ issue, we are not looking at it from the perspective of human rights. We are looking at it on a need basis... Like it or not, we need to sustain and grow an economy that is able to generate an annual per capita [GDP] of US$35,000. At the end of the day, whatever factors would be able to help us to sustain the growth of the economy for the benefit of our countrymen, for the benefit of our country; we will definitely go for it."
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 00:04:57 +0000
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