You never see the hard days in a photo album...but those are the ones that get you from one happy snapshot to the next.

A very warm welcome to my thoughts and opinions. These lyrics from Megadeth's Peace Sells resonate with me. What do you mean, "I can't get to work on time"? I got nothing better to do And, what do you mean, "I don't pay my bills"? Why do you think I'm broke? Huh? What do you mean, "I hurt your feelings"? I didn't know you had any feelings. What do you mean, "I ain't kind"? I'm just not your kind.

me.

I have a penchant for sweet delights be it chocolate lava cakes or eye candy in my favorite tv show. I adore being a couch potato and my recent addiction is NCIS and The Big Bang Theory.

3:00 PM

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

My life has become one of those mundane doldrums.
Its really quite sad.
Same thing day and day out.
Routine is such a awful thing.

That aside please note that I've added a new link "For fellow mobile geeks".
All the latest mobile phones, all the info at the click of a mouse.
Really good webbie thanks to someone I know.
So a big thanks to that person.

Next up on the itinerary,
ladies and gents is one of my regular "complain my heart out coz i'm singaporean" sessions.
I do believe many of us indulge in this favorite past-time of ours.
So without furthur ado, I present to you,
Section 1234567890A of Volume 1234567890 [ A tribute to the slow drainage of Melissa's Sanity]

Now as a member of the public,
I am baffled and infuriated by certain things that occur in the working world.

Now firstly, we all know that recruitment agencies take a cut of our pay for their services.
Their services include calling you up sweetly to tell you to take up some job your usually incredibly overqualified for and then tell you not to ask for too much pay.

Proceeding which they start to whine and wheedle giving us employees the impression that they are gonna go outta business if we don't take up this precious job they are offering us.
With weird pay scales like $5.80, my question is where does this precious 20 cents go to?

It has to my attention that they are eating up a significant portion of the per hours pay scale. Mind you its more than 33.3% per hour they eat.
Basically we pay for that poor pathetic person who whined and wheedled to have lunch and dinner everyday and much more.
Not only do they do that but it has also come to my attention that different people have different portions of their pay cut.

So the mind boggling question is, who and how do they decide on the amount of money to be cut per hour from us poor employees?
Is there no transparency in this?
Apparently neither party is to talk about this and I believe there are legal obligations, but is that not using the law against us?
Who can we turn to for our basic employment rights?
What are our basic employment rights?
Will no one indulge me in this?
Now mind you I understand that recruitment agencies should take a certain percentage from us for giving us the job, but the inconsistencies are whats bothering me.

Following which I question the lack of a mandatory dinner hour.
Now I'm referring to 9 to 5 jobs where dinner is completely unnecessary.
I'm referring to jobs where we regularly have overtime or have to stay till very late, especially in the retail sector.
There is a mandatory lunch hour but dinner is completely ignored.
With a few companies offering a mere 15 to 30 min break?

Now I find this baffling as here we are fighting for the rights of foreign domestic workers, trying to ensure they have off days and ensure they have all their basic human rights met.
WHAT ABOUT OUR OWN CITIZENS?
What about the thousands of employees who suffer from chronic gastritis?
Have we no rights?
I find this completely ludicrous.
Does anyone share my sentiments?

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MINISTRY OF MANPOWER'S RESPONSE TO MY IRE
(YES I WAS BOTHERED ENOUGH TO WRITE TO THEM, I wanna know my rights)

Dear Melissa,

We refer to your email dated 5 Dec 05.
The Employment Act, which the Ministry of Manpower administers, spells out the rights and obligations of employers and employees and the minimum termsand conditions of employment in Singapore.

The commission payable to therecruitment agency for securing a job is subject to what was provided for in the contract or negotiation/mutual agreement between the contracting parties and does not come under the purview of the Employment Act.

Under the Act, the employees should not be asked to work more than 6 hours without a break. However, the Act did not state how long should be the break. We are of the view that it should be long enough for the employee to have a meal and rest. You may wish to note that the meal break does not constitute part of the employee's working hours and the employee is not paid when he goes for the official break.

If the employees are covered by the Employment Act (ie. not employed in amanagerial, executive or confidential position), they could seek the assistance of the Labour Relations
Department, Ministry of Manpower,
18Havelock Road,
Singapore 059764
during office hours for any infringement ofthe Employment Act.
No prior appointment is required.
Our office hours are from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm from Mondays to Fridays and 8.30 am to 1.00 pm onSaturdays.

Should you require more information on the statutory benefits provided for under the Employment Act, you could visit the Ministry of Manpower's web-site at http://www.mom.gov.sg/LRD/FAQs/ or call 6 4385122.

Yours sincerely,
Mrs Chong-Tan Sok Peng
Labour Relations Officer
Labour Relations Department
Ministry of Manpower

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I wish to sincerely thank them for taking my feedback seriously enough to respond.
At least I'm little more aware of the law and my rights. Hats off to MOM.