Stall operators at a hawker centre in Bugis are reportedly forced to collect and clean their own tableware due to staffing issues faced by the contractor.
Used dishes aren’t being cleaned fast enough to serve incoming customers at the Albert Centre food court on Queen Street.
As a result, stallholders have to clean their own crockery, which can be frustrating, especially during peak hours.
A 60-year-old wanton noodle stall operator told Chinese language newspaper Shin Min Daily News that the problem has been ongoing for two weeks.
His staff takes turns running to the collection area to get their tableware, in addition to serving clients.
The stall operator revealed that the issue remains despite paying S$470 a month to a contractor responsible for collecting and sorting tableware for stallholders.
The contractor is also paid to ensure the stall has enough dishes for orders, but the stall operator pointed out that their chopsticks and spoons are disappearing instead.
The chopsticks break when accidentally stepped on because customers leave the plates on the floor.
Cleaners also misplace the chopsticks and mistakenly throw them away. The wanton noodle stall operator said he had lost about 100 pairs of chopsticks in the last two months, which he has to replace using personal funds.
Another stallholder told Shin Min Daily News that crockery is left on the floor or piled up on nearby tables because the tray return racks run out of space.
A braised noodle stall operator said she now pays an extra S$700, on top of the S$470 to the contractor, for cleaners to wash the dishes.
However, she still ends up apologising to customers for the delay because she has to personally collect and wash the dishes during busy lunch hours.
“Am I paying S$1,170 per month for nothing?” she asked.
Meanwhile, the contractor cited manpower shortage for the issue, noting it was difficult to hire locals for the cleaning jobs.
It’s also difficult for the contractor to apply for permits for Malaysian workers.
The person in charge of dish collection for the contractor said that the situation should improve after Chinese New Year when foot traffic diminishes.
However, stallholders are worried that the situation will worsen during the holiday season.
Netizens wondered why dish collection was a problem when the contractor was supposedly earning more than enough.
“$470/per stall; there are at least 80 stalls. Collection is about 37k, low wages cleaner min 1.4k now, output 15.4k for 11 workers, 11.2k for 8 workers. Now that we know much all these cleaning contractors earn under NEA, what’s NEA doing? Never supervise the cleaning company? They earn so much, yet authority never even deal with them to ensure hawkers get their things properly in order to earn their livinghood,” said Facebook user Allen Ho.
“You don’t hear so much of such problems at other centres,” noted Facebook user Kan Tsiwoh. “This has been dragging for years at this popular Bugis centre and has no improvement (very untidy and unsightly). The contractor only knows to give reasons (similar to other centres, but problems are not solved)./TISG