Workers squat by the road, then on open lorries
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 have to squat in an insecure lorry to earn a living to feed them?
Or, is it because these workers work for small sub-contractors who have done
them a great favour already by taking them to work so that they save time and money? Have the employers perhaps considered that this "favour" may be an affront to human beings?
Surely, an alternative to squatting on a lorry would be useful in providing a better image of Singapore vis-a-vis its workers' welfare.
(c) 1990 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
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