Frontline healthcare workers pushed to limits by the never-ending COVID-19 fight. Many are burnt out. Many healthcare workers on the front line have been in overdrive for many months now fighting a pandemic that is seeing no light at the end of the tunnel. A pandemic that has taken 4.55 million deaths globally. Hectic hours…
Category: Singapore
Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre reopens with added safety measures
Due to a Covid-19 cluster outbreak, Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre was closed for three days and reopened yesterday (30 Sep). To better safeguard the wellbeing of the workers, Covid-19 testing has been ramped up and made more frequent, from once every 2 weeks to once a week. Wearing of coloured wristbands to prevent crossing between…
Grab Rider: “Thank you to Coffee Bean staff and customer who showed kindness”
I’ve always liked Coffee Bean. And today, I found one more reason to love them! 🙂 According to a Facebook post shared last week, a kind Coffee Bean employee had allegedly treated a Grab rider to a drink when he returned to get a replacement drink for the one that he had dropped on his…
Continued CDRF payouts for drivers during COVID-19
By now, we are almost too familiar with COVID-19 and the turn that it can bring to our lives. With the recent surge in cases, few would have been surprised by the recent announcement. From 27 Sep to 24 Oct, dine-in has been reduced from 5 to 2 pax and WFH arrangement will become the…
Union fights for the welfare of vaccinators who were unpaid
What’s worse than having to work, is not getting paid for it. We were appalled to hear news of the Singapore Ambulance Association (SAA) and recruitment agency Megamanpower not paying vaccinators and nurses. These vaccinators have been playing an integral role in the fight against Covid-19 and it’s completely unacceptable that their salaries have not…
Labour MP greets retail staff with a smile and gifts them a special welfare pack
Over the weekend, a lovely and bubbly Member of Parliament (MP) and her team of volunteers were busy greeting and blessing a group of retail staff. Armed with a bright smile and welfare goodie bags, they visited retail workers at Koufu, Ang Mo Supermarket and BBBURGERS, amongst other shops in Punggol! This initiative was done…
“Delivery riders are human too. They are not Superman.”
Not too long ago, Deliveroo, Food Panda, GrabFood and the likes did not exist and today, I’m sure many of us can’t imagine living without this essential service. Bubble tea in a few clicks? Yes, please. Food delivery platforms in Singapore have seen a spike in rider signups following the start of 2020, and demand…
Undeterred by dementia, 71-year-old Auntie Susan works at a coffee shop to keep active
Auntie Susan is a familiar face at a coffee shop in Punggol. This coffee shop, which is also known for its soy sauce chicken, is where she can be spotted on a daily basis clearing tables while talking up a storm with the coffee shop regulars. At 71, Auntie Susan is a proponent of active…
69% drop in household income from work for poor families in Singapore last year.
Singapore’s unemployment rate reached a 16-year high in 2020 and retrenchments doubled from 2019. For many, Circuit Breaker 2020 and Phase 2 Heightened Alert 2021 = drastic drop in come or even no income. A study by Beyond Social Services with more than 1,000 applicants of Beyond’s Financial Assistance Fund (FAF) conducted last year revealed…
Providing better safeguards for freelancers and the self-employed
Recently, there was an announcement about lower-wage self-employed people (SEPs) having to contribute to their Medisave to qualify for government payouts. Under the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme, eligible lower-wage workers, including those who are self-employed and freelancers, get up to $2667 in Workfare payouts a year. To benefit from Workfare, all lower-wage employees and…