Resorts World Sentosa layoffs have led to 'stronger Singaporean core', says Manpower Ministry

Annabeth Leow
Published Thu, Aug 6, 2020 · 09:27 AM

THE recent high-profile layoffs at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) have left the integrated resort with a higher share of local staff than before, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in a statement on Thursday, in the wake of complaints from some of the retrenched workers.

Citizens and permanent residents now make up 75 per cent of the remaining headcount, up from 66 per cent before, as most of the retrenched workers were foreign nationals.

This is even as the MOM noted that "a small group" of retrenched workers had raised concerns, including allegations of discrimination, with the authorities and the labour movement.

Calling the outcome of the layoffs "a stronger Singaporean core" for RWS, a spokesperson for the MOM said that foreign employees had to have a higher performance rating than their local counterparts to be spared retrenchment.

And, whenever foreign and local employees had the same performance grade, "preference was given to the local to be retained", the spokesperson added.

Local employees who volunteered to work at an RWS-managed community-care facility for recovering coronavirus patients were also given extra consideration during the layoffs.

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The spokesperson also noted that RWS paid out to all eligible retrenched workers a half-month's wages in severance for each year of service - a sum that the MOM found to be "within the limits of the tripartite guidelines for all firms in similar circumstances", given the state of the business.

RWS, which is run by mainboard-listed leisure group Genting Singapore, held a "one-off workforce rationalisation" involving an unspecified number of employees in mid-July, citing the "devastating" impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its business.

The axe fell just a fortnight after the integrated resort reopened to visitors. RWS had earlier been shuttered for more than two months to curb the spread of the virus and, like the rest of the tourism industry, is still struggling from the evaporation of international visitors.

Still, the MOM found that the share of local workers in the RWS casino department's pit and assistant pit supervisor section - where many of the local complainants had worked - in fact increased from 78 per cent to 86 per cent after the retrenchments.

Representatives from the MOM and the Attractions, Resorts and Entertainment Union have also been meeting these workers, the spokesperson said.

The ministry said that it will continue to keep an eye out for "unfair retrenchment practices" among employers who are turning to layoffs.

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