Debated in Parliament on 23 Feb 2023.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry will consider holding consultations with the cleaning and waste management industry to introduce a system similar to the Foreign Construction Worker Directory to facilitate job matching between employers and foreign workers in the cleaning and waste management sector; and (b) if not, why not.
Sir, the Member had raised a similar question in 2019 and the position of the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) remains unchanged.
Job-matching initiatives should be initiated and led by the respective industries to ensure that they meet employers’ and workers’ hiring needs and are sustainable. Currently, most employers and workers work with existing employment agencies for their job matching needs. If the cleaning and waste management industry assesses that a sector-specific job facilitation system is necessary, MOM would be happy to work with the relevant industry representatives on their proposal.
Mr Louis Ng.
Thank you, Sir. I thank the Senior Minister of State for the reply. Could I just ask whether MOM can look at this from a different perspective? Which is that this could help to tackle this issue of power imbalance. I have seen first-hand that many migrant workers are very scared to report kickbacks, for example, because they are scared of losing their jobs and that the employer will send them back home. So, if they know that there is a directory out there where they can find an alternative job, we can also make sure that it is within the same salary range. So, we also address employers' concerns of migrant workers job-hopping for higher salaries. I think if we look at it from this perspective, perhaps this could help to tackle this issue of the power imbalance.
Sir, I appreciate the Member's concern about the power imbalance, but I do not think using job facilitation as a mechanism to create a balance in the relationship is going to be effective. What we need to do is, if there are kickbacks being conducted, if the workers feel that they have been victimised, then they ought to report it to MOM so that we can do the necessary investigations and take employers to task.
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