CNY salary issue after firm joins Surbana

In my years of working in Singapore, all my employers had paid the employees before Chinese New Year so that we could prepare for the holiday.

I now work for Aetos, which Surbana Jurong wholly acquired last year, and I was shocked when I learnt that our salary would be credited on Jan 28, the first day of CNY. Which employer does that, I asked myself.

Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union general secretary Philip Lee called Surbana Jurong “heartless to the extreme” for sacking 54 employees just before CNY (“Unions seeking payments for dismissed workers from Surbana”; Jan 25). I agree.

My colleagues felt frustrated but were too timid to raise the salary issue. Many of them are not well-to-do and were looking forward to some advance pay.

To make matters worse, many of the auxiliary police officers are Malaysians who had anticipated sending money home but were disappointed.

I understand that an employer has every right to pay salaries at the end of every month. But a happy employee would contribute more than an angry one would, and I hope Surbana Jurong can improve its relationship with employees.