Netizens, and even Opposition party members have united in their campaign against the increase in discriminatory hiring practices exhibited by local employers following the recent addition of 47 more employers to the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) watchlist.
On Wednesday (5 Aug), MOM released a statement on how yet another 47 employers – most of whom were from the financial and professional services sectors – were placed on a watchlist of companies following suspicions regarding discriminatory hiring practices.
Since then, there’s been much online chatter surrounding the unfairness of such practices.
Immediately after MOM’s statement was released, Progress Singapore Party (PSP) took to Facebook to assure netizens on their stance against such practices, and their promise to combat them.
https://www.facebook.com/progresssingaporepartyofficial/posts/1419313031598939
Since then, more and more opposition party members and netizens have taken to Facebook to share their insights on this matter.
ConnectOne’s – a Talent Solutions Consultancy for Startups – director Joanna Yeoh elaborated her thoughts on her Linkedin page, sharing how she felt it was sad when a Singaporean had to be hired for diversity purposes.
“While we welcome diversity and foreign investments into Singapore, the scale has been tipped against locals for a while now.”
She went on to highlight the various experiences she had had in her years as a talent manager with employers prioritising foreign hires above locals.
Ms Yeoh finally ended off with her hope that employers level the playing ground between foreigners and equally talented local professionals.
It’s not just concerned netizens who have been weighing in on this alarming issue- prominent opposition party members have been speaking up as well.
Lim Tean, Secretary-General of People’s Voice, took to Facebook on Thursday (13 Aug) to emphasize the importance of carving out a percentage of jobs available specifically for locals.
https://www.facebook.com/PeoplesVoiceSingapore/posts/2629541917313998?_rdc=1&_rdr
He was quick to deem the FCF a “sorry scheme” and went on to highlight People’s Voice’s demands on how to level the playing field when it came to employment in Singapore.
These were:
1) A freeze on the issuance of all new S-Passes;
2) A drastic reduction in the number of Employment passes;
3) The abolition of CECA;
4) Jobs Bank must make known the number of Singaporeans finding jobs through it;
5) All HR managers must be Singaporeans
Netizens were very supportive of these views, with many expressing their approval.
Some even went so far as to provide several suggestions of their own.