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

[Thaiyotakamli]

5 minutes ago, Odyssey2011 said:

Construction worker wage is the main cause of property prices? No developer aggressive bidding?

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/land-bidding-chinese-developers-singapore-property-rising-cost-11764932

Singapore Press Holdings and so many turned into real estate company.....money is so good and easy there....no?

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/06/singapore-press-holdings-to-spin-off-media-business-into-not-for-profit-entity.html

Land is one thing, levy also another thing. Each worker high levy, sure pass cost to consumers

[Odyssey2011]

40 minutes ago, Thaiyotakamli said:

Land is one thing, levy also another thing. Each worker high levy, sure pass cost to consumers

There is a danger.... too ridiculously dependent on foreign 'cheap labor".

Construction is not always a low technology job... Singaporean take work seriously, very proud about their work, can be really productive. If proper process is everything at construction, Singaporean do tend to love processes, will be good at it too.

Edited May 13, 2021 by Odyssey2011

[Vegas]

43 minutes ago, Thaiyotakamli said:

Land is one thing, levy also another thing. Each worker high levy, sure pass cost to consumers

Of course everything will pass to consumer. The issue is still the main cost of pple doing nothing >> labour and material costs.

land price, main con to multiple layers of sub cons... are the real ‘cost’. these pple dun care how much workers are paid. SG pple dun want to work in construction? Bring in cheaper n cheaper alternatives.

if cut off 3 layers of sub con, probably can afford more SG pple to construction industry.

[Thaiyotakamli]

45 minutes ago, Odyssey2011 said:

There is a danger.... too ridiculously dependent on foreign 'cheap labor".

Construction is not always a low technology job... Singaporean take work seriously, very proud about their work, can be really productive. If proper process is everything at construction, Singaporean do tend to love processes, will be good at it too.

Singapore weather also too hot la

 

those angmoh countries or even hk much much more cooling to work as construction worker lol. Also road repairs too. 

 

 

[Thaiyotakamli]

39 minutes ago, Vegas said:

Of course everything will pass to consumer. The issue is still the main cost of pple doing nothing >> labour and material costs.

land price, main con to multiple layers of sub cons... are the real ‘cost’. these pple dun care how much workers are paid. SG pple dun want to work in construction? Bring in cheaper n cheaper alternatives.

if cut off 3 layers of sub con, probably can afford more SG pple to construction industry.

So what do you think the proper wage to atttact for local to undertake the job? I reckon $5k and above easily. From what i know current china construction workers demand $3k salary to come sg

[Vegas]

59 minutes ago, Thaiyotakamli said:

So what do you think the proper wage to atttact for local to undertake the job? I reckon $5k and above easily. From what i know current china construction workers demand $3k salary to come sg

i am not from the industry so i dare not comment.

referring back to the comparison between delivery riders and construction, i guess there needs to be a fair jump, need not just be salary jump. fix and steady pay, medical benefits and other variable bonuses to compensate for working hard under the sun..

[Spurman]

10 hours ago, Voodooman said:

Interestingly, a construction worker would probably needs more skills than a delivery rider, so the latter is probably paid too much? Lol...

Generally these r lazy bunch. Not wan2 to generalise but hard truth

[inlinesix]

4 minutes ago, Spurman said:

Generally these r lazy bunch. Not wan2 to generalise but hard truth

Nowadays, food delivery rarely late even during rain.

I will not say they are a lazy bunch without knowing their previous job.

Up to now, nobody has answered my question:

Prior to gig economy, who do these ppl work as?

[t0y0ta]

7 minutes ago, Spurman said:

Generally these r lazy bunch. Not wan2 to generalise but hard truth

You mean the delivery folks?

[t0y0ta]

1 minute ago, inlinesix said:

Nowadays, food delivery rarely late even during rain.

I will not say they are a lazy bunch without knowing their previous job.

Up to now, nobody has answered my question:

Prior to gig economy, who do these ppl work as?

Taxi drivers, odd job labourers, retail assistants, jobless, movers etc etc.... that is my take.

[kobayashiGT]

10 hours ago, Atonchia said:

The higher paid one still need to drive lorry and ferry their co-worker.... 

Work and deliver 😅

But got free lorry to drive home! hahah.

[inlinesix]

4 minutes ago, t0y0ta said:

Taxi drivers, odd job labourers, retail assistants, jobless, movers etc etc.... that is my take.

There are Grab drivers that also do Grab Food Delivery.

 

[Voodooman]

15 minutes ago, Spurman said:

Generally these r lazy bunch. Not wan2 to generalise but hard truth

I know someone who works very long hours as delivery rider but i agree that construction work is even tougher. 

Given we have very limited local talent pool and many of these delivery riders are probably more educated than our imported construction workers, do we really want more Singaporeans to go into the gig economy and end up with no skills, not even learning team work and interpersonal skills? It is really not healthy. No wonder we need more and more imports.

[JanM]

19 hours ago, Lala81 said:

I don't really know how to reconcile these 3 facts together.

a) To make Singapore a more equitable society, where your blue collared workers can make a decent living. Cleaners/landscaping/construction/healthcare assistants/stall assistants should be able to raise a family and earn a decent wage. Not everyone can be a highly productive worker/in a "good job".
Workfare is a good scheme.

vs

b) Fact is exceedingly cheap labour is all around us. SEA/indian subcontinent. It doesn't make sense for a small nation like us not to make use of it. U can call it "exploit" or what, but the fact is that it's there. And it will be there for hundreds of years or more given the current world situation. 
Many cities are precisely built on such labour. Or if not, then allowing low skilled migrants to arrive to work in F&B or other low skilled jobs. 

vs 

c) Rising costs. Which makes the part a more difficult to achieve.

"b) Fact is exceedingly cheap labour is all around us...."

Mr A was at a food court.  He was not really hungry and actually moderately overweight but what's wrong with eating more?  So finally ended up in front of two stalls.  Stall on the right was selling delicious and sweet bubor cha cha with creamy coconut milk on top for only $2.  Stall on left was selling salad poke bowl with lots of healthy celery stems for $8. So which one? The $2 bubor cha cha which taste so shiok and can be slurped down without much trouble ?  Or the salad bowl where each cut of the celery stalk have to be chewed for quite a while before swallowing, enduring the strong taste of the celery meanwhile.

[kobayashiGT]

2 minutes ago, JanM said:

"b) Fact is exceedingly cheap labour is all around us...."

Mr A was at a food court.  He was not really hungry and actually moderately overweight but what's wrong with eating more?  So finally ended up in front of two stalls.  Stall on the right was selling delicious and sweet bubor cha cha with creamy coconut milk on top for only $2.  Stall on left was selling salad poke bowl with lots of healthy celery stems for $8. So which one? The $2 bubor cha cha which taste so shiok and can be slurped down without much trouble ?  Or the salad bowl where each cut of the celery stalk have to be chewed for quite a while before swallowing, enduring the strong taste of the celery meanwhile.

Erm... but then hor...

Bo bo cha cha is a local dish leh, whereas poke bowl is a foreign dish. Hahhaha. 

 

 

But I will choose bobochacha if I were Mr A. hahahah.

[Jman888]

15 minutes ago, JanM said:

"b) Fact is exceedingly cheap labour is all around us...."

Mr A was at a food court.  He was not really hungry and actually moderately overweight but what's wrong with eating more?  So finally ended up in front of two stalls.  Stall on the right was selling delicious and sweet bubor cha cha with creamy coconut milk on top for only $2.  Stall on left was selling salad poke bowl with lots of healthy celery stems for $8. So which one? The $2 bubor cha cha which taste so shiok and can be slurped down without much trouble ?  Or the salad bowl where each cut of the celery stalk have to be chewed for quite a while before swallowing, enduring the strong taste of the celery meanwhile.

tell that to the american with their fast food 

[Victor68]

This is a very sensitive subject which will draws many reactions. Are people truly aware of the situation or base on their perceptions? I must qualify I am no expert but surely these questions can be verified

1) True that BTO will shoot up when Singaporean are the builders? This assumption is based on labour cost alone? Then if current labour source set min salary like our Domestic workers? Then it goes down again to what is actual BTO cost?

2) Why is construction different from the other industry? All technical / skill workers are imported? To me, the key reason is because imports are cheaper and not the skill set. As long as you allows that to happen, it will kill the locals. Doctors, Lawyers and CEO civil servants will be cheaper too if we allow imports.

3) I remember someone said this before. We expect our hawker food to stay in the 60 prices while they absorbed the inflation. this is not sustainable. Same goes to BTO but BTO has the land cost element and ensuring buyers get profit to deal with. It is not public housing, that is the problem. 

  

[Odyssey2011]

9 hours ago, Thaiyotakamli said:

Singapore weather also too hot la

those angmoh countries or even hk much much more cooling to work as construction worker lol. Also road repairs too. 

Angmo countries......with the state-mandated military service like singapore? No.

Don’t think young singaporean is that weak because of home weather.. https://www.cmpb.gov.sg/web/portal/cmpb/home/life-in-ns/saf/basic-military-training

Are all S’pore’s young getting ‘soft’？No. ....Maybe those too "spoilt" and "pampered“ ones from the richer family.  The poorer ones still have that “nothing much to lose” altitude ...i feel.

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Odyssey2011