Workers’ Party politicians Nicole Seah and Kenneth Foo have been busy with on-ground activities lately, listening to Singaporeans’ issues amid these difficult times.
Residents talked to Ms Seah, who only this month returned to East Coast activities after giving birth to her second daughter earlier this year, about the upcoming GST hike, which the WP opposes on the ground that it burdens many Singaporeans.
“For those who already struggle to put food on the table, such an increase can cause a family to make hard choices such as whether they can even afford a tray of eggs,” she wrote in a recent Facebook post.
As for Mr Foo, a conversation with two women appeared to strike him. He learned about “pruning” which companies do to get “rid of workers who reached statutory retirement age.”
“Although both of them decided to continue working despite reaching the retirement age, they felt that the retirement age may be misused by employers to get rid of older workers, who are still able to contribute,” he added.
GST hike
Ms Seah wrote about how the impending GST hike from 7 to 9 per cent will be harder on lower-income households while external factors that affect food supply and prices, such as the war in Ukraine or the Covid pandemic, cannot be controlled.
But she added “we can control one factor domestically. The timing of a GST hike during this period of extraordinary inflation and its staggered rollout over the next few years might also contribute to unintended knock-on effects, as prices go up to absorb costs in anticipation of each hike.
This means that many Singaporeans might feel this pinch get progressively worse, and that daily cup of kopi-o as a morning routine might turn into a luxury as time goes by.”
She also wrote that “one cannot turn a blind eye to the struggles of many, and it begs the question of the timing of a hike for this season that Singaporeans are going through.”
“Pruning”
Mr Foo wrote that he had only learned about “Pruning” last weekend while talking to the two women, Catherine and Evelyn, whom he, Ms Seah and the other WP team members spike to at length statutory retirement age in Singapore at Bedok Block 216 Hawker Centre over the weekend.
The women told Mr Foo that one way the retirement age may be misused by employers is by putting them on contract on an annual renewal basis. This, they felt, “was unfair but had to accept it.”
Mr Foo also wrote in his post that WP chair Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) has questioned in Parliament whether there is a need to have a prescribed retirement age.
Moreover, Ms Lim also raised four points in support of removing the prescribed minimum retirement and re-employment age.
“The Workers’ Party will continue to champion for workers rights to ensure fair and equitable treatment for our labor force,” he added. /TISG
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