I REFER to the report, 'Age ain't nuthin' to Madam Foo' (my paper, Jan 9).

After some white-collar workers reach the age of 62, their salaries are slashed by half, while they still shoulder the same workload.

Their annual leave is also reduced to the minimum of seven days, as required by law.

It is sad that the phrase, 'Old is gold', is no longer valid in this day and age.

Mature staff are treated so shabbily nowadays that if I were not starving, I would not lower my pride and accept such terms.

However, most people who need their jobs have no choice, as they will be discriminated against because of their age if they decide to look for work elsewhere.

As employers are fully aware of the predicament such older workers are in, their attitude towards such staff is:

'Take it or leave it. If you go, we can always employ someone else.'

Take a look around the food courts. Most of the lowly- paid positions there are taken up by foreigners.

It seems that older Singaporeans no longer have a place in the workforce.

Mrs Lim Kwee Khim

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