THERE is a restaurant in Singapore which called all its elderly workers to its headquarters one day.

It was announced to these workers that their terms would be converted from full-time permanent to contract.

Almost all the elderly employees were asked to sign an agreement on this.

The agreement was written in English and most of the workers were unable to read or understand its contents.

The management provided an interpretation of the agreement in Mandarin, but omitted to mention that employees were signing a resignation letter.

A condition in the letter required the workers to leave their jobs immediately.

Under these circumstances, they were not entitled to any severance pay.

The staff are illiterate and signed the agreement based on the interpretation provided by the restaurant?s management.

The Government has been urging companies to employ senior citizens as this group has much to contribute to the workforce.

I hope the Ministry of Manpower could look into this issue.

Are there avenues workers could avail themselves of to voice their grievances regarding such matters?

Mr Andy Cheng

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