S'pore warns firms on foreign workers

S'pore warns firms on foreign workers

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Labor-scarce Singapore must not rely too heavily on foreign workers because of possible social and economic dangers, the labor minister said yesterday.

"The ongoing problems with the Philippines over the hanging of a convicted Filipina domestic worker, Flor Contemplacion, is a vivid example of an unexpected emotional and political turn of event which puts at risk our relationship with a labor-exporting country," Minister for Labor Lee Boon Yang said in a speech.

Singapore and the Philippines have been at diplomatic odds since the March 17 execution of confessed murderer Contemplacion. The hanging incensed Filipinos who thought Contemplacion might have been innocent.

Lee said Manila's decision to ban new domestic workers from going to Singapore was inconvenient but not an economic problem.

"But you can easily imagine the consequences if we continue to become more dependent on foreign workers in the economic sectors and one day, for whatever reason, the supply of such workers is interrupted," he said.

There are more than 300,000 foreign workers in the small city state of 2.8 million people.

Lee cautioned entrepreneurs "against operating on the basis that there will always be a readily available pool of low-wage foreign workers".

He said companies should instead introduce labor-saving and productivity-enhancing technology.

Lee urged employers to exercise greater restraint over their recruitment of foreign workers.

"I must emphasize that we cannot accommodate as many foreign workers as employers would like to employ," he said.