Dignity in every Job

"Do you think you'll be recruiting in every cohort of Singaporean babies, about 6 to 8 per cent of them into the construction industry? I think realistically, our Singaporean children....want a diversity of jobs, " said Chan Chun Sing, Singapore's Trade and Industry minister. 

I happened to catch this on TV and remember thinking if I am a construction worker I will feel offended. Although he later qualified he didn't mean that nobody wants to go into construction, I think I was a bit put off by his tone and body language which seemed to suggest that it is an unrespectable career. I think this type of attitude from a minister will reinforce the disrespect Singaporeans have for these workers. All these glorified talk about our migrant workers building our homes flew out of the window under a veil of hypocrisy.

Professor Theseira, a NMP said "If we recognise that all work, especially socially essential work, has value, then we need to agree, there is no shame in having Singaporeans take up manual and service jobs." He felt that we should build an economy that is inclusive of skilled and decently paid craftsmen, technicians and service workers.

Entrepreneur Jack Sim (founder of the World Toilet Organisation) in his recent facebook post  described how in 1979 when he was in the construction industry there were very skilled master craftsmen, trained skilled craftsmen and apprentices. The master craftsmen commanded respect for their skill and were paid decent wages.  Today we bring in workers whom he said "have never done a day of construction work". Jack Sim went on to lament that Singapore is now ranked 19th in the world in terms of productivity.

In countries which do not rely on migrant construction workers like Japan their construction workers may indeed be 3 times more productive than our migrant construction workers which our minister is aware of. Their processes in construction is highly efficient.

Chan Chun Sing's remark set me thinking about those Singaporean babies who have little aptitude to get a university education but are skilled in other crafts. They remind me of the children in the Children's Home whom I engage with and who are at a social and educational disadvantage. As the odds are against them many will probably land up doing manual and service jobs. If our craftsmen and service workers are paid decently such jobs will command more respect. These children will take pride in learning the skills they are good at and will gain higher self esteem.

As Prof Theseira puts it "The only shame is if we who have power and influence fail to ensure that the conditions of work and wages in these service jobs are such that Singaporeans find no dignity in taking them up"