Pope Francis appeals for fair wages for Singapore migrant workers who ‘contribute a great deal to society’

SINGAPORE: In his visit to one of the wealthiest, and most expensive, cities in the world, Pope Francis made an appeal for fair wages to be paid to Singapore migrant workers.

There are around 1.5 million foreigners in Singapore’s total population of 5.6 million. Among them are 286,000 domestic workers and 441,000 people in construction, shipping, and maintenance jobs who help keep the city-state’s economy going.

Among Singapore’s foreign workforce, 1.1 million earn less than S$3,000 a month as of December 2023, a Reuters report noted. At present, there is no official minimum wage in Singapore.

Pope Francis expressed the hope that special attention would be paid to Singapore’s poor and elderly and appealed for the dignity of migrant workers to be protected.

“These workers contribute a great deal to society and should be guaranteed a fair wage,” said the 87-year-old Catholic leader in his speech at the National University of Singapore, which government authorities, civil and religious leaders, and the diplomatic corps attended.

He began his address by praising the government’s commitment to sustainable development, public housing, education, and health care. From there, Pope Francis went on to exhort officials to extend care to the poorest in society and warned against putting excellence above everything else.

He highlighted that focusing only on pragmatism or prioritizing merit above all carries the unintended risk of excluding the marginalized from benefiting from progress.

The Pope is on the last leg of his four-nation, twelve-day tour in the region. He visited Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste, where nearly half of the country’s 1.6 million people attended the mass he celebrated on Sept 10.

HOME (Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics), a local organization that champions the rights of Singapore’s migrant workers, was quoted by Reuters as saying they were in “full agreement” with his call for fair pay.

The Pope’s call for fair salaries for Singapore’s migrant workers has since made the news around the globe, with media organizations such as Reuters, Bloomberg, and AP pointing out Singapore’s wealth and economic success.

Nevertheless, the call is in keeping with the content of many speeches that Pope Francis has made in the past.

He has been a consistent advocate for human dignity and the rights of migrants, appealing for empathy and solidarity with them. He has addressed poverty, economic marginalization, environmental degradation, and racial, political, and religious tensions as the reasons for migration all across the globe.

Pope Francis celebrates the World Day of Migrants and Refugees each year, and has, in the past, urged the faithful to “eradicate” the indifferent attitude that some have shown toward migrants. This year’s celebration falls on Sept 29. /TISG

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