Tuesday 27 November 2012
SMRT bus drivers' strike: Who's the villain?
So who has "netizens" vilified most in the dispute between SMRT and its mainland China bus drivers?
FOREIGNERS?
I was bracing myself for another round of foreigner-bashing online, now an entrenched local pastime.
While this may not be the first time foreign workers have stopped work en masse in recent times, this is the first time a public service has been affected.
Maybe this will finally force the Government to seriously re-examine our over-reliance on foreign workers for essential public services and beyond. Then these foreign bus drivers would've accomplished with one strike what all the online foreigner-bashing couldn't.
Surprisingly, there is actually some sympathy and even admiration for the bus drivers for standing up to the establishment.
SMRT?
The Chinese bus drivers complained about unequal pay and poor accommodations provided by the company.
Most of Singapore already hate SMRT for the train disruptions. Where are you now, Saw Phaik Hwa?
But surprisingly again, SMRT isn't the big butt of jokes this time round.
So who is the big butt of jokes?
MAINSTREAM MEDIA!
Of all things, "netizens" have chosen to focus their weekly outrage on the reluctance to use the word "strike" in news reports of the dispute.
It's another "ponding"!
I'd rather make fun of SMRT's increasingly ironic insistence on calling its bus drivers "Service Leaders".
So "netizens" actually hate local media more than they hate foreign talent and SMRT. Now that's saying something.
Anyway, here's proof that The Straits Times isn't afraid to use the word "strike" where it's warranted.
Headline on Stomp today: See how badly this auntie wants to score a bowling 'strike'.
COLUMN: Call a spade a spade...
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