The Rhetoric
“Put employees first, not shareholders…employees are our colleagues, we don’t want to to give them a sense that they are expendable digits, to be treated like commodities.”
– Union leader and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Lim Boon Heng, Straits Times, Jan 23 2002The Reality
“This this not a theoretical risk, it’s a real problem. Germany, which has the toughest laws for firing workers…has the highest unemployment rates. And it’s not a coincidence. It is because employers make their calculations – too hard to drop, better don’t hire.”
– DPM Lee Hsien Loong on why the government must make it easier for firms to lay off staff in bad times, Straits Times, Apr 5, 2002