Yushui Village in Lijiang, Yunnan, with snow mountain backdrop and cascading waterfalls.
11/11/2008
No easy way out
When asked, Lim Swee Say said that cutting CPF is a last resort and should only be used after all measures have failed. I would presume that retrenchment should be a last resort for companies to take when they are trimming cost. Retrenchment is a very painful process and has a serious psychological effect on the affected staff and should not be treated lightly.
Are we going to see more companies starting their retrenchment exercises as we enter a phase of recession? If that is the alternative, pay cut or CPF cut could be more palatable.
The Union's stand is that no company will be allowed to take the easy way out by retrenching staff in difficult times.
Cutting CPF should be the first resort!
ReplyDeleteThe Union's stand is not the employer's stand. There are now employment contracts running year by year, so who cares about what the Union says. The Union promised reinstatement of CPF when good times return during the last recession. What happened? Think about it.
ReplyDelete> The Union's stand is that no company will be allowed to take the easy way out by retrenching staff in difficult times. <
ReplyDeleteEasy solution. Close the company. You might as well. The union will FORCE you to lose money, better that you just shut down completely.
Losing your job is not the end of the world. All you have to do is go out and get another one.
As Ludvig von Mises and Murray Rothbard among others have noted: ALL unemployment is VOLUNTARY.
Meaning, that if you are not working, it's your choice and you and you alone are to blame if you ain't got enough dough. It's EASY to get a job, even in tough times.
All you have to do is to expect less money, and be willing to do work that you wouldn't consider doing before.
So, there really is no problem. People make themselves the problem when they become "elitist" when they lose that job in nice aircon offices downtown. You offer them a cleaning job, and many thumb their noses at it.
ALL_UNEMPLOYMENT_IS_VOLUNTARY
ya true. the MDs that have now been retrenched will have a string of jobs waiting for them if they want to work.
ReplyDelete