Who opened the floodgates to immigrants?

[pepper spice]

Same thing here. I took bus from Bukit Merah, wanting to go to Funan IT Mall. To be double sure, I confirm with PRC driver, got go Funan hor? He blur. Got stop at Hill Street hor? The fire station there, urm, urm, 消防局? Also blur, he mumbled something in Mandarin. 你有经过克拉码头 (Clarke Quay) 对吗? By then, the bus already passed by Chinatown on way to Clarke Quay, no need to ask oredi.


Yes, in the past, just hop on bus and tell driver, "Uncle I want to go Funan, tell me when I reach, can? Thank you."

[daddy2007]

Hard to blame the transport companies for hiring foreigners. How many Singaporeans are willing to work as bus captain?

[Oppsgal]

daddy2007:

Hard to blame the transport companies for hiring foreigners. How many Singaporeans are willing to work as bus captain?

Depends how they ATTRACT Singaporeans to join bus captain. If pay not that much and have to work long hours, then how to attract them to join?

[3Boys]

Oppsgal:

daddy2007:

Hard to blame the transport companies for hiring foreigners. How many Singaporeans are willing to work as bus captain?

Depends how they ATTRACT Singaporeans to join bus captain. If pay not that much and have to work long hours, then how to attract them to join?

So are you willing to pay higher bus fares so that we can pay higher and attract local drivers? If not, who should pay for it then?

[Snow Crystal]

pepper spice:

Yes, in the past, just hop on bus and tell driver, \"Uncle I want to go Funan, tell me when I reach, can? Thank you.\"

Yes yes those were the days. We will try to sit near him so that he can alert us. Sometimes if where we are going is not on the bus uncle's route, he will even direct us to which correct bus to take. Nostalgia. So now is it very few of these uncles and mostly PRC men who will get lost and need to be directed by passengers or simply can't give advice for his own bus route? Where's the basic training? Our time's Singaporean bus drivers must be old uncles now and retiring in peace. Maybe they can be hired at minimal fee to be bus consultants onboard .... Haha jkjk.

[Chenonceau]

3Boys:

Oppsgal:

[quote=\"daddy2007\"]Hard to blame the transport companies for hiring foreigners. How many Singaporeans are willing to work as bus captain?

Depends how they ATTRACT Singaporeans to join bus captain. If pay not that much and have to work long hours, then how to attract them to join?

So are you willing to pay higher bus fares so that we can pay higher and attract local drivers? If not, who should pay for it then?[/quote]The CEO's pay can be a little less?

[3Boys]

Chenonceau:

The CEO's pay can be a little less?

Won't go far enough. Take the CEO's pay down by $500,000 per annum, for instance, divide that by say 500 bus captains. That's $1000 per annum increase, or about $80 per month.

Any Singaporean takers for $80 increment?

Invariably in the flatter societies (like Finland), its partly due to the higher earners being moderated, but also largely due to blue collar jobs being relatively high wage. That translates into high overall costs for businesses and consumers. The one week I spent in Sweden and Denmark were real eye openers on how eye-wateringly expensive everyday mundane things could be in those societies. If you think a cab ride in Singapore is expensive, try Stockholm....

[3Boys]

I don’t propose that Singapore be like Sweden. First of all, I am not blonde with blue eyes. Next, we don’t have Norway and Finland as neighbours. Third, we don’t have lots of lakes and woods to retreat to in times of adversity. In any case, who thinks the Swedish model is all that its talked up to be? Saab has gone broke, and Volvo is now owned by…Geely, our friendly automaker from 中国。You couldn’t make cars in Sweden easily, not for that price of labour.

[verykiasu2010]

3Boys:

Chenonceau:

The CEO's pay can be a little less?

Won't go far enough. Take the CEO's pay down by $500,000 per annum, for instance, divide that by say 500 bus captains. That's $1000 per annum increase, or about $80 per month.

Any Singaporean takers for $80 increment?

Invariably in the flatter societies (like Finland), its partly due to the higher earners being moderated, but also largely due to blue collar jobs being relatively high wage. That translates into high overall costs for businesses and consumers. The one week I spent in Sweden and Denmark were real eye openers on how eye-wateringly expensive everyday mundane things could be in those societies. If you think a cab ride in Singapore is expensive, try Stockholm....

or try Geneva

[3Boys]

Oppsgal:

daddy2007:

Hard to blame the transport companies for hiring foreigners. How many Singaporeans are willing to work as bus captain?

Depends how they ATTRACT Singaporeans to join bus captain. If pay not that much and have to work long hours, then how to attract them to join?

Actually when I read this again, I am just completely appalled.

I started work 18 years ago with a professional qualification. Back then we were so lowly paid, less than what a bus captain earns these days, and I worked 16 hour days with one weekend off a month. This went on for years. I was in a professional job, but could not buy a car until I had worked for 6 years and pooled resources with my then fiancee (now DW).

You mean Singaporeans these days will NOT do a job if its low pay and has long hours? If so, we truly deserve to get our behinds kicked.