Fifty dollar monthly pay rise for low income earners touted by the National Wages Council (NWC) here, following recommendations presented by the National Trades Union Council (NTUC). The increase proposed for those earning less than one thousand dollars per month. In Singapore there are nearly 300,00 workers who fall into this income bracket according to official figures. Cleaners and security guards, bus drivers and cooks, commonly earn around six hundred dollars a month. In some cases 12 hour days and six day weeks involved. These figures have been put before in earlier pages. On top of this proposed fifty dollar increase, an additional percentage increase would follow.
Front page news in the Straits Times yesterday, Sunday 20 May 2012.
A good deal of attention focused on the low wage earners recently. Some commentators are concerned about possible social consequences a little further down the track unless the massive disparities in income here are not addressed. The Arab Spring brought up in the context.
One further detail was interesting to note. It is deserving of highlight.
This is the first NWC recommendation for a wage rise since the year the Mighty Bombers won the first of its premierships under Kevin Sheedy; Bob Hawke elected Labour Leader and then PM the year prior; Ronald Reagan mid-term of his major acting role and Margaret Thatcher similar in her longer reign. Seventeen years before 9/11; twenty-two after the moon landing was the last year the National Wages Council in Singapore suggested a rise in the remuneration rate of the toilers.
In that year of nineteen hundred and eighty four $27 was accorded, with 4 - 8% additional. A short quarter century ago plus (as they say here).
In March of this year — the month, not the quarter — inflation rose 5.2%. (Ibid the same news report.) What was the figure for all the Marches since 1984 wasn't mentioned.
A good deal of attention focused on the low wage earners recently. Some commentators are concerned about possible social consequences a little further down the track unless the massive disparities in income here are not addressed. The Arab Spring brought up in the context.
One further detail was interesting to note. It is deserving of highlight.
This is the first NWC recommendation for a wage rise since the year the Mighty Bombers won the first of its premierships under Kevin Sheedy; Bob Hawke elected Labour Leader and then PM the year prior; Ronald Reagan mid-term of his major acting role and Margaret Thatcher similar in her longer reign. Seventeen years before 9/11; twenty-two after the moon landing was the last year the National Wages Council in Singapore suggested a rise in the remuneration rate of the toilers.
In that year of nineteen hundred and eighty four $27 was accorded, with 4 - 8% additional. A short quarter century ago plus (as they say here).
In March of this year — the month, not the quarter — inflation rose 5.2%. (Ibid the same news report.) What was the figure for all the Marches since 1984 wasn't mentioned.
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