TWO restaurant associations, which say their members are hamstrung by a shortage of workers, are making a plea to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to relax rules on hiring foreigners.
The Restaurant Association of Singapore and the Indian Restaurant Association of Singapore, which collectively represent over 250 eateries, say the local labour crunch has made business untenable.
The associations met yesterday and said they plan to present the ministry with recommendations on the labour situation. Those could include lowering the salary floor for foreign workers, which restaurant owners say is not necessary since there are hiring quotas in place.
The gathering was spurred by a Straits Times article on Monday which said the MOM was pushing for jail terms for employers who lie to get work permits for foreign employees. Previously, restaurateurs were usually fined.
Mr Charles Mahendran, general manager of Komala's, an Indian fast-food chain, questioned the need to jail restaurant owners.
He said if employers are being forced to lie to get around quotas, the 'policy people should review the system'.
The president of the Restaurant Association of Singapore, Mr Ang Kiam Meng, said: 'Sometimes, decent businessmen are faced with a tight labour market and flout the rules out of desperation or ignorance.'
Business owners suggested reducing the minimum salary for workers who come to Singapore on an S-pass, the permit for semi-skilled workers.
That minimum, which is $1,800, is 'exorbitant' for a restaurant, said owner G. Shanmugam.
He said a semi-skilled worker such as a chef should be paid less, and suggested the S-pass salary requirement be reduced to a range of $1,200 to $1,500 for the service sector.
In the past, restaurateurs have claimed in official documents that they were paying their employees the minimum, only to fork over hundreds of dollars less.
Mr Janarthanan Selvarajoo, a consultant specialising in employment law, said restaurants intending to hire Indian nationals are the worst hit because these workers can be hired only on an S-pass or employment pass. On the other hand, Chinese restaurants usually employ China nationals, who can be hired as low-skilled staff on a work permit.
This means that an employer who simply needs an Indian waiter might need to hire someone with relevant qualifications and pay him $1,800 under the current regulations.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on September 4, 2008.
