Workers squat by the road, then on open lorries
The following is a letter published in the Forum page of the Straits Times on 12 July 1990. Workers squat by the road, then on open lorries 12 July 1990 Straits Times WHEN one approaches the junction of Jalan Bukit Merah and Alexandra Road in the evenings, one is likely to see groups of night-shift workers waiting to be picked up by "coverless" lorries. Normally quiet and expressionless, these workers squat by the roadside. When a lorry arrives, they would swiftly climb in and, again, take up a squatting posture. To the observer, some interesting questions arise: What happens if it rains; will they be thrown out of the lorry when there is an accident; and why can't the employer use a bus? Indeed, such a scene is increasingly incompatible with the current economic prosperity in Singapore whereworkers' welfare has improved substantially over the past three decades. Can we explain why children are being sent to schools in air-conditioned mini-buses and their fathers