DTN News - SINGAPORE NEWS: Singapore Deports Striking Chinese Bus Drivers
(NSI News Source Info) SINGAPORE - December 2, 2012: Singapore on Sunday deported 29 mainland Chinese bus drivers involved in the city-state's first industrial strike in 26 years.
The drivers, working for state-linked transport operator SMRT, staged the strike on Monday and Tuesday over a salary dispute and to demand better working conditions. Their work permits had been revoked ahead of their deportation.
"The Ministry of Home Affairs confirms that all 29 former SMRT bus drivers have been repatriated to their home country," the ministry said in a statement.
"They were cooperative and the process took place without incident," it said, adding that Chinese embassy officials and SMRT staff assisted in the repatriation.
Four other drivers were charged in court and authorities said they would lodge charges against a fifth on Monday for their involvement in the work stoppage which the government ruled was illegal.
If found guilty, they could be jailed for up to a year, fined a maximum of Sg$2,000 ($1,640) -- the equivalent of two months' wages -- or both.
The strike, the first since 1986 and which caught the government by surprise, has highlighted tightly-controlled Singapore's heavy dependency on migrant labour to drive its economic growth amid a labour shortage resulting from falling birth rates.
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http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.sg/2012/12/dtn-news-singapore-news-singapore.html
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