When some 300 enquiries and applications poured in, brand and communications manager Gregg Lewis back peddled and qualified the original offer by saying the dishwashers will need to slave/work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week - from 10.30am to 10.30pm - with breaks to come up for oxygen. This differed significantly from the 9 hours that Sakae Sushi chief Douglas Foo told UFM 100.3 radio on Friday, and subsequently confirmed with Chinese paper Lianhe Wanbao, when he claimed that he had trouble filling 10 cleaning positions at $3,000 per month. Foo said the earlier description of the job had been amended after the management found that a 9-hour workday was not feasible due to crowd volumes the restaurant faced. What he did not say was what his present crew of cleaners are actually paid. Fooled you again!
However creative Sakae Sushi may be in attempting to wriggle out of a public relations disaster, and possible outright lie, there are laws in Singapore about working hours:
The law also specifically stipulates that an employee is permitted only to work up to a limit of 72 hours of overtime in a month. This limit may be exceeded only if the Ministry of Manpower has granted an exemption under section 38 of the Employment Act. In other words, Sakae Sushi's current practice may be contravening the labour laws - 4 hours of OT every day for a month, do the math. Where are the cops when you need them?
This is really a bad example in that crockery for sushi food is definitely easier to clean than, say, curry rice or chilli crab. This is an ideal candidate for automation; washing machines can work round the clock and complete the cleaning task more productively than human hands can. However that means that management will not have the excuse to bitch about cutting the quota for foreign labour, which seems to be the underlying intent for the whole charade in the first place. Khaw Boon Wan famously asked, "Did I jump the gun?" about his premature endorsement of the NParks purchase before appreciating the scale of the Brompton scam. Hopefully Ministers will one day learn to aim first before they shoot.
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Disgrace-FOO-l.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting my protein from meat instead of fish from now on.
Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs K. Shanmugam was surprised, he commented on Facebook:
ReplyDelete"Sakae Sushi boss says they are offering $3,000 per month for dishwashers but can't find people?"
If Millionaire Shan is surprised, what about us Singaporeans?
Singapore taxpayers are paying million dollar salaries for Ministers, but still can't find good people.
Singaporeans need to expand our talent search for good Ministers BEYOND PAP in GE 2016.
It is not a fishy tale.They just got the currency mixed up. It should be 3000 Yuan or chinese dollars equivalent to 600 S$!
ReplyDeleteSakae sushi is as crap as the claims sprouted by the CEO. You really dont want to eat there. My domestic helper makes better sushi than that!
ReplyDeletehave you seen any Japanese eating at Sakae sushi ? i am inclined to believe Douglas Foo will have to pay them...just to pretend they are going to put the crap into their mouths!
Deleteif you look at the video when Josephine Teo asked the sake sushi boss about the conditions of the 3000 sgd dish washer job, and compare with what you found out, you will be shocked that he has lied.
ReplyDeletepure and simple. a liar he is.
PAP-MIW Illustrative Joke
ReplyDeleteQ: How do you know when an MIW is lying?
A: His lips are moving.
Douglas Foo is a junkie for foreign workers. He shd put on record now how many dishwashers did he employ after the PR fiasco. Why did he not employ 3 part timers owrking 4 hrs at $1k each instead? Shouldn't somebody from MOM investigate his company? If we have a decent & proper trade union, unlike the fake we have now, workers will not be exploited and employers will not talk c**k & sing song for fun.
ReplyDeleteThis Foo character is not the only foreign worker junkie around, which you are quite right because there are almost all Pinoy workers in his joints.
DeleteAfter this episode, I have stopped visiting their outlets which is nothing much to rave about to begin with.
A discount coupon company is also employing almost a full crew of Pinoys. Try calling their customer service or collecting your purchases at their collection counters and you will know what I mean.
Where the hell are the MOM who is supposedly now moderating the inflow of foreign workers when you need them?
Don't just talk. Walk the talk.
I like this term "foreign worker junkie", has to be uniquely Singapore. Guess who is ultimately responsible for the addiction?
DeleteThis whole charade is just free/cheap publicity for Sakae Sushi for whatever motive they have.
ReplyDeleteHey guys.. Boycott Sakae Sushi. Set up a facebook movement to do so. Support Singaporeans first policy and boycott bosses who treat workers as slaves. Boycott dishonest bosses. Let's all boycott these restaurant sweat shop. Anything restaurants operated by this fool, we boycott. Until he shutdown his business. How about that? Teach him a lesson.
ReplyDeleteFool's motive is clear. He was probably used to a conveyer belt of cheap FWs at his disposal. But the moment the call for tightening the quota came, he must have responded to the govt's call to speak out against the curtailing as it would affect his profits to hire and pay fair wages to locals. The entire premise is to prove that "despite paying $3k, there are no-takers from Singaporeans who shun/refuse this kind of work". Unfortunately, it backfired on him. He is 5 months too late for this april's fool joke.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading all the statements from Sakae Sushi, it is obvious that they lied about the job specifications. Lesson to all singaporeans, if what seems too good to be true, it is probably not true. Douglas Foo need to come up with a better answer to the queries on the job specifications.
ReplyDeleteQ: What is more damaging to Singapore than a "foreign worker junkie?"
ReplyDeleteA: A Prime Minister who is a scholar junkie.
D Foo is indirectly telling the MIW that for the man in the street he has to work his guts out for S$3,000 a month while they can get that in a few hours.
ReplyDeleteChangi Airport must have one of the highest number of foreign workers next time you visit the airport just look at your check in staff, security screening officers, this are the middle level which Singaporeans can be filled in to do the work but SATS and Dnata are bringing in foreigners for this mid level jobs
ReplyDeleteWhatever is even striking and shocking is that all along this is modus operandi of PAP to take feedback from businessmen who are part of PAP regime who lies and give half-truth for implementing policies. Whatever the businessmen will be taken as gospel but never as conflict of interest. We know how this govt work, don't we ?
ReplyDeleteA Freudian slip again ?
How else can the system continue to exploit the people and still assume it is the norm ?
How else the rich can richer, the poor get poorer and stressful ?
correction:
Delete"Whatever the businessmen will be taken as gospel truth but never as conflict of interest. And those pigs will just do what their masters tell them without questioning just to get promoted and job retention. We know how this govt work, don't we ?
Where the pro-business policies comes from ? From these businessmen. Period. Bear in mind that PAP govt themselves are in business, which is conflict of interest, and hence they are tuned to be pro-business. Which explain why they simply endorse businessman's view of cost-cutting and profit-seeking mentality and not question them rigorously. Like-mind think alike and therefore they only glorify and interview those who share similar mindset, and even reward them as poster kid. This is SinCity where money makes the city goes round.
ReplyDeleteHowe Yoon Chong had only one term as MP and Minister because the had the guts to tell off the businessmen with ulterior motives, "I know why you are here". Unfortunately our present prime minister lacks the moral integrity and conviction to run a clean act.
DeleteExactly. PM Lee and his stooges just want to hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see, and thus all the wayang show and programmes must be orchestrated to support the per-decided outcome. Even a retarded can see through the smokescreen.
DeleteAnyone that deviates from their expectation, they will just replaced. You can't teach old dogs new trick even in this internet era, especially one that has no qualm to continue their repressive and oppressive regime at all cost.
What do you call that National CONservation ? A Truman Show , or Reality Show
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show
Guess who is our Jim Carrey in the SIN Truman Show ?
This entire nation is driven on business-friendly, open door policy.
DeleteSME / MNCs are all called as job-creators to be favored upon.
All boils down to economics and profits.
This place has NEVER been a people-centric nation ever.
WE are all just an accessory to them. It is about Competition, never Cooperation. Is ingrained in our meritocracy. Is our DNA.
The road to prosperity is equated as Success to the individual, and GDP to the nation/leaders. They think those narrow definition are sufficient to Happiness. Your self-actualisation, higher ideals and values about human rights, equality or caring humanity is secondary. 100b is not enough, and we will aim for 200b, 300b in our reserves, as if this will make us happier. 3m is not enough to be extraordinary, so we aim for 5m, 7m, 8m as if bigger is better results. So Singaporeans, what makes a good society here?
That joker's half truth statement abt $3K dishwasher conned lots of people including our smart MIWs. He also saved advert money. Free advert for dishwasher. Overwhelming response for only 10 vacancies. Smart of him right? Sly I would say. I also blog abt this topic.
ReplyDeleteWhile PAP has their own political agenda, obviously this Foo has his own business agenda when he made that kind of false statement.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes matter worst is when we are told that this Foo happens also to be a CCC member for Siglap, now that his business agenda is mixed with PAP's political agenda to become a national policy that can only benefits employers at the detrimental interests of local Singaporeans.
For our National Con, do we honestly believe that our PM would listen more to people like this Foo or people like the the actual dishwasher, what do you think ?
Oligarchy?
DeleteHere's how it works, same in unca sam's make-believe world, same in red dot - "I don't think, I believe in my own snake-oil because its comforting". That I learnt from my opium smoking grandfather 5 decades ago.
The $3,000 dishwasher job is perhaps not real.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's just a demonstration of what a $3,000 dishwasher could look like.
And a demonstration of how Singaporeans may turn it down.
The demonstration is for the benefit of the royal couple ... just like tai chi exercise at 3.45pm in the afternoon.
PS:
I've met quite a number of overseas VVIPs in my lifetime.
You will be surprised at how knowledgeable these VVIPs are about everyday grassroots things.
They are not shielded or pampered like our VVIPs.
Anybody remember the shoe being thrown at George Bush?
Or Barrack Obama who has to fight a very tough, no holds barred re-election campaign.