‘Strong S’poreans’ Can Work As Construction Workers Instead Of Delivery Riders, Says Leong Mun Wai

[kobayashiGT]

Leong Mun Wai Says It’s ‘Pitiful’ To See Strong Singaporeans Collecting Food For Delivery

Singapore continues to push for the transformation of our construction sector to become less reliant on migrant workers.

During the parliamentary debate on 11 May, Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai said more could be done to attract locals to join the construction sector.

He then made a rather novel statement suggesting that “strong, able-bodied Singaporeans” who work as food delivery riders could be construction workers instead.

Suggests ‘strong’ delivery riders to enter construction

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday (11 May), Progress Singapore Party’s Leong Mun Wai said he was happy to hear the progress made on attracting Singaporeans to the construction industry, including taking on scholarships.

He then suggested that raising the wages of workers will attract more locals to join the construction sector.

 

Elaborating on this, Mr Leong said,

I always find it very uncomfortable and pitiful to see very strong Singaporeans queueing up at the F&B outlet to collect food for delivery.

He always wondered why ‘strong, able-bodied Singaporeans’ weren’t doing other types of work.

Leader of the House Indranee Rajah later clarified if he meant all Singaporean delivery riders should become construction workers.

Mr Leong replied, “Yes”, citing that while there are 100,000 gig workers in the country, some Singaporeans are currently unemployed.

Given this Covid environment now, if you raised the wages high enough, there’s a threshold that I think Singaporeans will come in even as a general construction worker.

Desmond Lee says government has a different approach

In reply to Mr Leong, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee said Singapore’s approach is different, as the issue isn’t just as simple as increasing the way.

He said the government recognises that they will need to significantly enhance job processes to create a good job for Singaporeans.

A job that commands the level of productivity and skills that warrants the kind of pay [Mr Leong] is talking about.

The increased pay, he believes, is what Mr Leong is referring to, where it will reach a threshold that will pull Singaporeans towards entering the industry.

Minister Lee then said that besides architects, engineers and consultants, locals are already working in the industry as builders, and doing jobs like pre-fabrication and casting works.

However, he said these are “very different” jobs than what Mr Leong envisions Singaporeans to be doing.

Migrant workers still needed

However, Minister Lee stressed that even as Singapore automates and increases productivity, there will still be a need for some migrant workers, and raising their skills is a goal.

We hope they’ll be more skilled, to keep them in our sector, keep them here to supplement the core of Singaporeans that we want to build for this sector.

According to The Straits Times (ST), this is in line with the Construction Industry Transformation Map, which Minister Lee also brought up.

 

Up-skilling migrant workers is part of the plan.

Singapore will continue to transform construction industry

It’s quite an unorthodox idea to consider a future where Singaporean food delivery riders will switch to work in the construction industry if the wages are high enough.

But ultimately, both Mr Leong and Minister Lee come from the same point where they hope to see the sector filled with more Singaporeans.

Are you a food delivery rider? What are your thoughts on the issue? Let us know in the comments below.

 

source: https://mustsharenews.com/construction-delivery-riders/

[kobayashiGT]

I am sure Mr Leong never step foot on a construction site before.

Quote

I always find it very uncomfortable and pitiful to see very strong Singaporeans queueing up at the F&B outlet to collect food for delivery.

After he sees us working in construction site, he will feel more uncomfortable and pitiful all the strong Singaporean carry metal beam and pushing cement at the construction site.

[Thaiyotakamli]

From smrt feedback vigilante

 

Leong Mun Wai wants able-bodied Singaporean food delivery riders to become construction worker. He feels pitiful for those who have to become delivery riders.

1. Delivery riders don’t need your pity. Where you come from, maybe delivery is considered too low-ses but to others, it’s a dignified job. 

2. Want Singaporeans to become construction workers? Can. Pay the correct wage lor. Then everything else goes up. 

BTO price goes up, who can pay?

I hungry at 11pm but lazy to go out, who’s gonna deliver my food?

Your mother? She already made a mistake delivering you and now I should expect her to deliver my hokkien mee?

[JanM]

3 minutes ago, Thaiyotakamli said:

From smrt feedback vigilante

 

Leong Mun Wai wants able-bodied Singaporean food delivery riders to become construction worker. He feels pitiful for those who have to become delivery riders.

1. Delivery riders don’t need your pity. Where you come from, maybe delivery is considered too low-ses but to others, it’s a dignified job. 

2. Want Singaporeans to become construction workers? Can. Pay the correct wage lor. Then everything else goes up. 

BTO price goes up, who can pay?

I hungry at 11pm but lazy to go out, who’s gonna deliver my food?

Your mother? She already made a mistake delivering you and now I should expect her to deliver my hokkien mee?

Actually the material and labour cost of a building may not be the major part of a building cost.  I recall reading somewhere that the cost is less than 30% of the overall cost.  So BTO price will go up but if construction workers are paid more but it won't be 100% more.  In fact, I suspect the price of apartments work just like the price of cars, a portion of it is determined by the cost of production factors and then a big part is determined by what the market can bear or is willing to pay.

[Soya]

20 minutes ago, Thaiyotakamli said:

From smrt feedback vigilante

 

Leong Mun Wai wants able-bodied Singaporean food delivery riders to become construction worker. He feels pitiful for those who have to become delivery riders.

1. Delivery riders don’t need your pity. Where you come from, maybe delivery is considered too low-ses but to others, it’s a dignified job. 

2. Want Singaporeans to become construction workers? Can. Pay the correct wage lor. Then everything else goes up. 

BTO price goes up, who can pay?

I hungry at 11pm but lazy to go out, who’s gonna deliver my food?

Your mother? She already made a mistake delivering you and now I should expect her to deliver my hokkien mee?

This clown shld juz shaddup. Not even properly elected but always wanna act big, take the stand, talk cock and embarrass himself and PSP

Or maybe he wanna get the delivery boys become construction workers so that he can take their job instead? At least that's a more useful job than whatever facepalm thing he's doing right now....

 

[Stary]

47 minutes ago, kobayashiGT said:

I am sure Mr Leong never step foot on a construction site before.

After he sees us working in construction site, he will feel more uncomfortable and pitiful all the strong Singaporean carry metal beam and pushing cement at the construction site.

Aiyo, Mr. leong fail to realise that the #1 reason why people wanna be delivery rider is the work hours flexibility la.  They set their own working hours.

For construction they can't do that.

[Cheesey74]

Really Mr Leong?

And i thought only the PAP are living in ivory towers, haiz..

[Karoon]

35 minutes ago, Thaiyotakamli said:

From smrt feedback vigilante

 

Leong Mun Wai wants able-bodied Singaporean food delivery riders to become construction worker. He feels pitiful for those who have to become delivery riders.

1. Delivery riders don’t need your pity. Where you come from, maybe delivery is considered too low-ses but to others, it’s a dignified job. 

2. Want Singaporeans to become construction workers? Can. Pay the correct wage lor. Then everything else goes up. 

BTO price goes up, who can pay?

I hungry at 11pm but lazy to go out, who’s gonna deliver my food?

Your mother? She already made a mistake delivering you and now I should expect her to deliver my hokkien mee?

That last para is brutal

Anyway we can always be like Oz where the construction jobs are not shunned as they pay above A$20/je. Govt have to change the structure so final price does not balloon and price out commoners. Quite obvious where that is.  

Edited May 13, 2021 by Karoon

[Soya]

6 minutes ago, Cheesey74 said:

Really Mr Leong?

And i thought only the PAP are living in ivory towers, haiz..

This bozo not living in ivory tower la

He living on a different planet....

lol

[Hamburger]

The incumbent must be laughing right now and thinking what an imbecile. 

[Nolicense]

to be fair, skilled construction worker types pay better, but not much better.

these are still filled by you know who.

those of you who complain your finishings in the unit is poor standard, here it is.

tiles not straight. wiring is crap. grout is uneven. door out of alignment. half f*ck work.

we are not talking about the quality of the matieral, but simple the quality of putting it together.

these workers are not working in the sun tying rebars and filling concrete. these workers are the ones doing the final touches before you move in, or for those doing upgrading, the toilet upgrading.

there is certainly a deteriorating level of skill in the workers more and more. not that using singaporeans is going to be any better since this is a skilled job which some ITE did train people for.

[serenade]

Singaporeans shun construction because of the long hours and uncomfortable work environment. Sites run 12hrs x 6 days a week. Some even run 24 hours. Have to work in the noise, dust and heat wearing hot and heavy safety gear. Even if pay more, no one will take it up until the conditions are drastically improved.

Road construction crew brave the noon heat while working with heated bitumen. They do not have proper rest area nor toilets when they take a break. Again, will locals want to put up with the discomfort even if the pay is attractive?    

 

[ToyotaShuttle]

Nothing wrong with Singaporeans working construction except for the pay.

Australia construction workers make $30 per hr, can afford to have a home, a family. Singapore construction worker eat grass!

[Ganwb79]

While it's unfortunate what a poor example Leomg used to make his point, but he does have a point. This practice of importing serfs from foreign lands and squeezing them dry by extracting the maximum effort from them but at the same time paying a pittance for the work they do, transporting them like goods in lorries and locking them up in dormitories, is not sustainable, we are so drugged up on the benefits of this policy that we can't stop (importing them), even as COVID rages on. Yup, closing our borders fully is not possible now, because we simply can't get anything done without them. 

Indeed, who would want to be a construction worker if the pay is shit and conditions are no better than from when the pyramids were built. But why do we accept this as a fact? Why couldn't conditions be gradually improved? I don't buy the assertation that paying the workers more would lead directly to an overall increase in selling prices. I speculate that some parts of the value chain is extracting more "value" than they deserve to. 

[Beregond]

2 hours ago, JanM said:

Actually the material and labour cost of a building may not be the major part of a building cost.  I recall reading somewhere that the cost is less than 30% of the overall cost.  So BTO price will go up but if construction workers are paid more but it won't be 100% more.  In fact, I suspect the price of apartments work just like the price of cars, a portion of it is determined by the cost of production factors and then a big part is determined by what the market can bear or is willing to pay.

even if the paid of construction worker go up 100%, its only a small % of the total cost of building a flat only.

how much a bto cost depend more on the current price , area, and ultimately how much money hdb want to make.

u go count how many unit per flat. how much each flat cost. .

u go count how much does 1 FT that make our flat earn per mth. very insignificant 

[MafiaGeek]

Wonder how other first world country build houses?  Do they use so many low cost FT?  or leverage on technology advancements?

[Watwheels]

4 minutes ago, MafiaGeek said:

Wonder how other first world country build houses?  Do they use so many low cost FT?  or leverage on technology advancements?

Their houses are so expensive that they can only rent. Nobody buys. 

[Philipkee]

Actually I did think of this  before.  We do have a pool of able bodied workers for construction. 

1)  conscientious objectors to NS.  They are healthy and fit but because of religion, they serve NS in DB.  Why not let them serve NS as construction  workers or cutting grass in HDB?

2) minor offenders in DB.  Why not let them serve in such jobs for the duration of their sentence and in return, remove the DB record from NS so that they can go to university after ORD?

3)  minor offenders in prison.  Like those who steal food or small sums of money cos they need to feed their family. They get a small wage as well and no criminal record so they can still find a job later on.