[redbean]

Citi and Morgan Stanley merging brokerages

The two giants are merging their operations in the face of the financial meltdown. The brokerages and their staff will have to shrink in a shrinking business. How would this affect the local brokerages? Will our brokerages shrink as well given the shrinking business in stock trading?

Stockbroking, buying and selling of properties, insurances are the last few professions that allow people who can't find employments or do not want to be employees to be self employed. Of course there is taxi driving but this is a very difficult trade with the recession hitting the economy. When these three professions start to retrench, more will be out looking for jobs.

The last frontier is to start your own business as entrepreneurs, provided you have a few hundred thousands of spare cash to play with. It is no longer possible to sell kueh and goreng pisangs along the corridors. It is against the law. But one can take the risk of selling pirated VCDs if one does not mind being handcuffed when caught.

The loanshark business is still thriving and they need more midnight graffiti painters. Maybe the casinos can provide more jobs for those who are not bound by their religious and moral righteousness.

For a start, Boon Wan has offered several thousand jobs in the medical industry. Just go for retraining.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

41,000 jobs available!

In the ST today, 41k jobs available. 20k in hospitality for croupiers, butlers, doormen, chefs, waiters, retail assistants and animal trainers. Health care has 6k jobs for nurses, assistants and physiotherapists.

MOE is also looking for teachers and teaching assts.

There are 4k retail jobs for sales assts and cashiers. And security officers and auxiliary police need 3.5k people.

Singaporeans need not worry about being jobless when so much jobs are available.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Jobs available - Coming full circle

After 45 years of independence, it is surprising that many of the oldies are coming full circle to where they had started as far as occupation and working for a living are concerned. Many were in the labour trade 45 years ago, the unskilled or semi skilled trades, the waiters, doormen, sales assistants, the maids or chambermaids, the security guards, the cleaners etc etc.

They started at a time when getting a job was difficult and any job will do. They had no education and little skill. 45 years later they still had little education and little skill. And they are still out in the job market hunting for that elusive job that will only pay them enough to get by.

Some things or people just would not change. The taxi driver that committed the vicious crime again Seng Han Thong is a living example of the living fossils of the past 45 years. They did not change or will hardly change while time slips away under their noses.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Pass the hats around please

We need to create more jobs. I don’t mean creating jobs like cleaners and chambermaids. I mean real jobs that pay reasonably well. There are three ways to go about it.

One, with our huge reserves, more jobs can be created with the money available. We can create more seniors and deputies positions, eg senior or deputy President to the President or senior vice Presidents, deputy to the vice President, senior Perm Sec, deputy Perm Sec or deputy to deputy Perm Sec. We can also have senior mayors, deputy mayors, or even create new ones like governors and deputy governors. The people have already accepted the practice of seniors, so it should not be an issue. Precedents have been set. It is a good precedent.

A second way is to pass the hats around. Stop the ridiculous practice of one person wearing 10 or 20 hats. Pass the hats around so that more people can wear one or two fat hats. The greedy practice of several hats on a small head or a small head that thinks it is very big is unhealthy. Ok, I must be careful about this as there are not many people that are fit to wear big hats or many hats.

A third way, and this concerns the filthy rich oldies. Many of the oldies are so rich that even without the income from their jobs they will have enough money to last a few generations. Let them retire gracefully to enjoy their wealth, to see the world and smell the roses. And let the younger and hungrier people take over their jobs. After all many are so feeble that most of the time they were on sick leave or fail to turn up for meetings or for work.

We can spread a little generosity around and cast the net wider to share the goodies.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Workers clapped after being retrenched

This is the headline of an article in the old media, 'Somthing to clap about' by Lin YanQin in Today. Workers of Chin Heng Garment Factory still found something to clap about after being retrenched. They were initially unhappy and angry and feeling quite emotional about being out of job.

Soon they were clapping when the severance package negotiated over a month was improved. The workers greeted the news by bursting into an applause. This is a very positive spin on a depressing news. And the workers' morale is high and bubbly and looking forward to more challenges in good spirit, like oxens.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

What is Seagate saying?

2000 jobs gone and company relocating to cheaper place. Are we expensive? What is making us expensive? Labour cost, land cost, infrastructure cost, govt cost, and whatever cost, are all going up, which is good. Then we can be in the league of the first world cities, notable for being expensive.

But one of these costs can and will surely go down if we are to remain at least competitive to keep some manufacturers here. Or maybe manufacturing is already a gone case and service is what is the next biggest employer. We need to thank the two IRs for the job opportunities available.

Hey wait a minute, the problem is still there. What problem? Labour cost still must come down, which means the income of the workers is not going to go up by any measures. Ok, where is the problem? With a stagnating income, who is going to pay for the services and goods with escalating prices? Housing, transportation, medical, food and entertainment will only get more expensive because the demand is there. How come, when our workers are not creating the demand?

That is beside the point. Our workers will just have to live with the situation, lower income and higher living cost. But don’t worry, housing, go for smaller units or rentals. Food, go for cheaper substitution, don’t each chicken, eat fish, I mean ikan bilis, not pompret or groupers.

Actually the real situation is that life is good. People are all very rich and with big disposable income. Just walk to the big shopping centres in Orchard Rd and you will know what I mean. And the long queues of people in private property launches will tell a happy story.

What is real and what is make belief? I think the buying frenzies in Orchard Rd and property launches are real.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Foreign or local workers not an issue

I am tempted to agree with Lim Swee Say that foreign worker local worker divide should not be an issue. It is productivity. We need productive workers to do the job well at the lowest cost. This is like white cat black cat, no issue. Just catch the mice. I must clarify here that when Deng Xiaoping said this, foreign and local workers was not an issue in China. He was talking about Chinese workers only. And I believe Swee Say would also have said that whatever, citizens must come first.

In our context, we may also claim that we are different. We are small and cannot be isolated. We are immigrants from the start. So living on the entrepreneur skills and hard work of foreign workers should be a part of our secret formula to success. And lazy and less productive workers cannot get away with it. They may be citizens, so what? They have done NS, big sacrifice, so what? They need to be competitive and productive and be better and cheaper than the foreign workers if they want to be counted. We have to be real and not be bogged down by citizens and non citizens. This is the real world.

Singaporeans must work as hard as the foreign workers. There are many schemes to help them to be productive and to earn better incomes. But if they do not want to buck up, it is their own fault. We are competing in an international environment when all barriers to entry have been removed. Every country is buying talent. Our non talents can go elsewhere and be foreign talents and be welcomed.

The above is just for discussion. It is meant to be provocative, to stimulate thinking out of the box.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Another crisis in the making

A crisis in the making or making waves? 70 banking staff from RBS Coutts defected or were poached by a Swiss private bank, BSI, because of curbs in bonus payments. The 70 can become 700 and then 7000 and the whole financial industry will be in turmoil. With all the banks making so much money, they can afford to pay their talented staff more, and those who are willing can go to the market and woo the best to their folds.

Are we going to see a spate of defections and mass resignations from the more stingy banks? Or course I am exaggerating, an alarmist. But these are the exact reasons given in America and Europe to continue to pay their overpaid bankers more. And our local institutions may also sing the same song to pad up their pockets. And we will see the game of musical chairs being played in full swing.

Will there be panic? Such high turnovers are bad and destabilising. Something must be done to make sure that these employees are not allowed to change their jobs at their fancies. How about introducing some regulations to prevent job hopping?

Or how about the industry players work out some arrangements not to poach staff from each other by trying to outbid each other? I know that such practices are prevalent in some industries. The best part is that when there are only a handful of players and some smart alecs still think it is a clever move to outbid each other or to undercut each other for a better share of the business.

What is important? A free market, free movement of staff with the accompanied little tsunamis or a stable and controlled market with seemingly orderliness? In a small little pool, how long can the game of musical chairs be played before the music stops? The high payout must come from somewhere. Any CEOs going to press the panic button?
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

What CBF?

What is CBF? Someone asked. It means cheaper, better and faster workers. Cheap and good, that’s what it means. How can cheap be good? Singaporeans only know that cheap means no good. You want anything good, you must pay for it. Good public housing, good market price. Good medical, high fees. Good govt, pay them well. If we are not willing to pay the price for it, we will get poor quality public housing, poor medical care and lousy quality govt.

Can we really have good and cheap workers? But this is only one part of the equation. Can our workers afford to be cheap when housing is not cheap, medical is not cheap, govt is not cheap, cost of living is not cheap? Cheap worker and high cost of living is a ‘bao si’ or sure die combination.

When housing, rentals and everything keep going up, how to get by if the pay is not going up? Ah, here is the secret. Cheap and better worker does not mean low wages. Our workers can expect their wages to go up. Productivity will be improved through mechanization or improvement in work processes. Or anyway, 3 workers do 7 workers’ work. It will mean higher productivity growth versus lower wage growth, but still growth, I think. Tiok boh?
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

And we want our workers to be CBF

In order to be CBF, our workers must be cheap, work better and faster. Now there is a new call, not to cut the pay of older workers. Can the older workers be faster than the younger workers, better, possible. Then while the rest of the workers are expected to be cheap or cheaper, would the older workers also be cheap and cheaper? 3 old workers doing the work of 7?

In the private sector when everything is about competition, when the money paid to the workers must come from somewhere, from the revenue or at the expense of profit, it is easier said than done to keep paying workers the way they are being paid.

Unless of course the organisation can print its own money or money is not an issue. By all means, pay the older workers what they deserve and more, pay them pension as well, or gratuities for long service at the same time.

Is there a contradiction?
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

The oldies are a treasure to an organisation!

Did anyone say this?When have oldies became a treasure to an organisation and must be duly rewarded? Sounded like the grandpas and grandmas are the treasures in a family.

There is now a reawakening and a new call to be good to the oldies. No longer were they seen as retards, slow and useless piece of woods to be quickly discarded when they hit retirement age, at 55 or 60. Now people are seriously saying that the oldies must be paid according to their worth and contributions, not to cut their pay when they reached the magical age of senility.

Is there a change of heart or a case of today I proclaim the oldies as bad, tomorrow as good, then I suka suka say they are bad again, good, bad....It was bearly 10 years ago when many oldies, or not even oldies, were given the red ticket to retire unceremoniously. Many were in their early 50s and many are still jobless or driving taxis despite their experience in managerial and executive positions.

Can these premature sacking of the oldies be reversed, and these not really oldies but now oldies be invited into the workforce again? Or can they claim for some kind of compensation for the bad mistakes done to them in the past?

Who was the wise kid who decided that these not so oldies should go? Who is the wise kid today to say the oldies must be treasured? My god, what kind of mindset change could happen so fast? The think tanks must be thinking too hard and go flipping about with such a major and serious issues. How could they not know that oldies are treasures, that oldies need to work till 80 or 90, but only today to realise this?
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Singapore companies risk brain drain

According to a Hay Group report, and reported by Lee Hui Chieh in the My Paper front page today, 'Companies here may face a brain drain if they do not repay the "sweat debt" - or employees' sacrifices - that they chalked up during the recession, a global consultancy firm warned yesterday.' This is the most serious threat to Singapore companies to date. If they refuse to up the pay of their employees, many will quit and move from Jurong to Ang Mo Kio or from Raffles Place to Shenton Way. The workers will simply quit and look for companies that are willing to pay them more.

And if this fails, they will move further ashore, to JB, Batam and maybe Chennai and Shanghai. Singapore companies must not take our world class, most productive workers for granted. They are in demand everywhere, from Ang Mo Kio to Queenstown to JB and Batam. And they will move. Where else can these companies find CBF workers except in Singapore, Cheap Better and Fast!? Cheap to hire, Better in work and Fast in moving if companies do not repay them their 'sweat debt'.

Come to think of it, this 'sweat debt', this country owes a big 'sweat debt' to the old hags that are still crawling around, alive, or to their children and grandchildren for the hardship they went through to build this country to what it is today.

When is this country going to repay them? Or better to take care of new citizens and foreigners?
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

A mini golden handshake for retired workers

CBF worker or CBF economy? I thought it was meant to be CBF workers, but the ST quoted Lim Swee Say this, 'He pointed to the labour movement's current focus on building a more inclusive workforce with a CBF(cheaper, better and faster) economy.

But this really make sense with the mini golden handshake that is being introduced in a bill to pay an Employment Assistance Payment to retired workers that are not rehired. The new law will expect an employer to offer continued employment to workers on turning 62 and later up to 67 years of age. If the employer is unable to offer an alternative employment he would have to pay an EAP to help the worker tie over the period when he has to look for another job.

This is something that only a tripartite formula of ours could work. Good for the workers.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Anything new from the ESC Reports

With 25 high power supertalents in the Committee, including 9 ministers, and 6 months of deep and challenging thoughts, is there anything new coming from this Committee. I am quite disappointed actually. To me there is nothing new. One
Winsemius could probably come up with more and enlightening suggestions to change our landscape and lead us to a brighter future.

But not all is lost. At least the Committee discovered that the high dependence on foreign workers is a dangerous road to take. This is probably their one and only major contribution to reverse course. Without this Committee we will still be plodding along happily with more foreign workers. PS, the whole cyberspace netizens knew this long ago and have been kpkb about it for quite sometime.

A side contribution is of course more money for the govt in terms of higher foreign workers levies.

Can't think of anything else that is near to a revelation.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

The Master Skill

It is the time of the year to call for more training and skills upgrading. We need to raise our skills, go for more training to improve productivity, and then to increase our income. I fall nicely into the group of 45 to 65 that needs more training and better skills. I need them, for I have another 20 or 30 years to go. Like I said earlier, enough time to start another family or to build a new career.

The future suddenly brightens up. So much to look forward to. In the past I was only looking for whatever little money left in the CPF. Now got chance to start a new career, go for job interviews and asking the organisation about promotional prospects. Feeling like a new person again. Got to search for my certificates and testimonials and dust away the dusts, and make photocopies of them. Now, how to write an application letter? Forgotten how, too long ago.

Training first. Come to think of it, if I could have gone for the right training and learn a master skill, then there is no need to go for more training at this young age of 60. Is there such a master skill that one can acquire and become a knows all for good? There must be one that allows one to be so skilled that one can switch industries and jobs like changing clothes and still continue to enjoy high pay, high perks and high bonuses year after year, unending. And the best part, no more training needed. And one's value and talent and skill get better everyday.

Can anyone advise me on where to learn this master skill? Or is there such a master skill?
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.