There is no fair playing ground for the working class, especially the ones with no paper qualification, often are the victims of exploitation by their employers for working long hours and in return getting paid minimally for their laborious effort.
The working class are getting paid just enough to afford daily necessities and sustain every basic need, but that is about it. Some can barely afford to live a comfortable lifestyle and often have to sacrifice work-life balance and the little leisure activities most people in Singapore can afford.
It is the very nature of capitalism, of how many businesses work in Singapore which, a lot of them are underpaid especially with huge organisation. Some may argue that Singapore is socialist, but with the unregulated few who abuses the labour-power, some of the practices aren't.
The working class deserves more recognition than just receiving a fixed wage for their labor. The majority are contented with what they have, some suffer the fate in silence. Many working class with no education qualification in Singapore does not have any increment in their salary. Just because they are uneducated they feel like they don't have the rights to ask for more. Although it might seem like it is an equal exchange of labor and compensation, it isn't.
Let's put things in perspective,
Sally, not her real name, was a housewife in 2008 with no qualification and started working in a bakery with an hourly salary of $4.50. It was until a a few years later, Sally had an increment of $0.50 and since then received an hourly salary of $5 till now. Sally never had any paid medical leave, hospitalisation leave or let alone bonus. Even when the bakery increased the price of their products, Sally still receives an hourly rate of $5 when she works approximately 60 hours in 6 days a week for the past 10 years.
When I ask Sally, "Why not find a new job or ask for an increment?" She replies in Mandarin, "It is hard to adjust to a new environment and to find a new job with no qualification."
Not forgetting that inflation is inevitably increasing every time, it is harder to get by with the rise of the expenditure. Even though the regulations are there, sadly to say, many companies can still find loopholes in the law system and take advantage of it.
It was during one of my school holidays where I picked up some part-time job and was having some conversation with a pioneer staff, Jane, and heard that the "company" hires part-time staffs and make use of them to work 40 hours a week, which fall short of the requirement in Singapore for full time to work 44 hours a week. "So why not work as a full-time staff?" I asked. She replied, "Because they stopped hiring full-time staffs more than a decade ago."
Let me give you an example of why people like Jane are entitled the same benefits as her full-time peers.
Jane worked at Company A for 40 hours weekly, 12 years straight. While one of the full-timers worked at the same company for 44 hours weekly, 30 over years. Consecutively, the full-timer receives her 13-month salary along with a times two salary for her bonuses yearly. While Jane only receives her hourly salary.
I am in no position to imply that both of them are entitled to the same amount of bonuses or incentives, but it should be calculated according to the amount of the hours that one had worked.
It is the perfect example of exploitation, I am not an expert but I believe workers who receive hourly wage should have the same or equivalent benefit if one has been working in a company for years. It is only appropriate to treat part-time workers as equal and should be entitled to the having bonuses and incentives.
Policies made by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) are there to protect the employees, but the treatment and benefits between full time and part time employees are still far-fetched. Maybe it is time to close the gaps, creating a more balanced treatment for the pioneer workers.
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