Some S’pore companies considering transport subsidy for M’sia workers

SINGAPORE – Some companies whose workers were affected by the Causeway disruption say they will consider giving their Malaysian employees a transport subsidy, to enable them to get to work without having to rely on the chartered bus services.

Cleaning company ISS Facility Services said 29 of its workers were affected by the incident this morning. The workers had informed their superiors and crossed the Causeway on foot. The company said it engages the services of a Malaysian bus company to ferry its workers across the Causeway. ISS’ senior operations manager Mustafa Baobed said: “Should the problem persist, maybe we will have to take into consideration measures on how we can find avenues or even alternatives by changing this mode of transportation.”

Another affected company in Tuas said it made arrangements to pick up its workers. Grocery Logistics of Singapore, a company owned by NTUC FairPrice, said fewer than 20 of its warehouse staff were affected. The company said it is “closely monitoring the matter” and working with its bus operator. But the incident did not affect its supplies from Malaysia as most of the goods were delivered to the warehouses by 4am.

It was the same for food service provider Select Group, which uses the Second Link to transport most of its goods. The company also said its Malaysian employees were “barely affected” as many of them reside in Singapore or travel to work in the earlier hours. CHANNEL NEWSASIA