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what is what now?? do also die, dun do also die! [:(]

i was surprised to read this in the morning. but read liao song can already...don't take it too seriously. after all guidelines are just that - guidelines ---- Discriminatory practices have no place in S'pore: Tan Chuan-Jin By S Ramesh | Posted: 31 October 2011 1123 hrs SINGAPORE : Ensuring Singaporeans remain at the core of the workforce is the objective of a revised set of guidelines by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices. Speaking at a tripartism forum on Monday, Minister of State for Manpower, Tan Chuan-Jin, stressed that discriminatory practices have no place in Singapore. At the National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke of what it meant to put the interests of Singaporeans first, in areas ranging from housing to healthcare. In his speech, Mr Lee had explained that the Manpower Ministry will work with tripartite partners to develop guidelines for fair employment practices and responsible recruitment practices, so that when a Singaporean is working side by side with a foreigner, they both feel fairly treated and nobody feels that he is at a disadvantage. The revised set of guidelines by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices comes after nearly 10 weeks of consultations with unions, employers and government officials. They also received some 450 suggestions online by various interested parties. Stephen Lee, president of the Singapore National Employers Federation, said: "Singapore is like a dragon boat; the employers are rowing on one side of the long dragon boat, (and) the unions are rowing on the other side....And you all know that if one side rows faster or out of sync from the other one, the boat will go round and round, and we lose the direction. We need to pull together and row at the same speed so that we can point the boat to the finishing line and get there as fast as we can. "There is also (someone) sitting at the head of the boat and beating the drums and taking the lead, and that is the government. So if you take this analogy, we are all in the same boat, and the employers and workers, we all have our role to play. If we play our role well (and) well directed by the government, this dragon boat will win the race." There is now a new section, titled "Hiring and Developing a Singaporean Core", to existing guidelines. It urges employers to make reasonable efforts to consider Singaporeans for positions on merit and to develop their careers. These could include ensuring jobs advertised are open to Singaporeans; working with educational institutions, career centres and recruitment agencies to attract and recruit Singaporeans; and developing the skills and expertise of existing Singaporean employees for higher level jobs. Alexander Melchers, vice president of the Singapore-German Chamber of Industry, said: "I know many German employers, they want to employ Singaporeans and they do employ Singaporeans. If they can't find Singaporeans, then they resort to employing foreigners. But if they had a choice to employ Singaporeans, I am convinced they will always do so." Lim Swee Say, secretary-general of NTUC, said: "The unions and the labour movement, we have not pushed for a Singaporeans-only guideline. In fact, if you study the input from the labour movement carefully, we make it very clear what we are pushing for, (that is) to establish and nurture a core of Singaporean workers in every major sector of the economy. "We do not believe in complete globalisation, we are not pushing for complete localisation. Every industry, every enterprise ought to adopt a balanced approach. We do object if certain industries, certain enterprises pursue globalisation to the extreme and basically keep going back to MOM (Ministry of Manpower) for more foreign manpower, and keep telling MOM that Singaporean workers are not willing, not able, not enough." One way the objective of ensuring Singaporeans remain at the core of the workforce could be achieved is for companies to examine their wage structures. Mr Tan Chuan-Jin said: ".....in our dialogues with companies, we do encourage companies to consider whether in certain sectors....(they should) restructure the wages. The businesses are doing well, but when you look at the wages, especially at the low-wage worker level, it isn't quite moving at that bit. And if you continue to offer wages at particular levels, you would not be able to draw Singaporeans." The Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices said that since 2006, there have been some 350 complaints against employers about unfair employment practices, and all the employers corrected their practices when approached. - CNA/cc/ms

- Jack up prices before declaring storewide sale so that sale price = regular market price - Claim you are almost about to win a prize when your actual chances are still 1 in a million - Sell freebies as regular items - Leave out GST when quoting prices - Don't have stock, say have stock then make you wait long long Anymore examples to discuss?

Dear all, my company has embarked on a taskforce to review how we can be more environmentally friendly in our offices. Would be glad if you can share some pointers on how to increase environemtal awareness in the office. Thanks!