War of words erupts over town council staff’s termination
UPDATE
MP Sitoh was quoted by The Straits Times that day that he was "very disappointed that some parties chose to politicise" the leadership transition at the town council as the matter was one "between employer and employee".
Later in the evening, Pwee, who is also second assistant secretary-general of SPP, rebutted: "This is a matter between SPP and PAP to work together, not unilaterally, towards a smooth transition of the Town Council."
The SPP still takes issue with the fact that Sitoh had not fulfilled his promise made to incumbent party candidate Lina Chiam which was to retain all of the Town Council staff, Pwee said.
"The PPTC staff were promised they would not be fired, yet they were terminated without explanation, and without proper severance or retrenchment package," he said.
On Thursday morning, the SPP delivered a petition letter to the newly-elected MP for Potong Pasir SMC to protest the latter's termination of 16 Potong Pasir Town Council staff.
All except three of the staff were served one-month termination notice letters, and asked to re-apply for employment to Sitoh's newly-appointed managing agent, EM Services, which also looks after eight other town councils.
Under this arrangement, they may be deployed to any of the other town councils, and their employment conditions will also be subject to change, under the jurisdiction of their new employer.
In a letter submitted to the PPTC's new general manager, Ms Soh Chor Yin, on Thursday morning, Pwee said the change in management was not rational ground for termination to their contract of employment.
His letter also called for either reinstatement of employment of the staff, or an appropriate retrenchment or severance package. About 30 members of the SPP also signed the letter.
In the recently-concluded General Elections, incumbent SPP candidate Lina Chiam lost the Potong Pasir single-member constituency by a slim 114 votes to the PAP's Sitoh.
On Wednesday, Sitoh Yih Pin said he had not promised to keep the staff and that he had instead told Mrs Chiam, "Since you asked, I will try my best to see what I can do," reported The Straits Times.
He also described employment terms under EM Services to be better than those offered at the Potong Pasir Town Council, saying that he would "follow all the employment rules."
He also has not decided about offering retrenchment or severance packages to the terminated staff, adding that severance packages would have to come out from the town council fund, saying, "The town council funds belong to residents. My priority must be to ensure that the service standards delivered to residents are not compromised."
All 13 terminated Potong Pasir Town Council staff had also been handed job application forms from EM Services, according to Today.
Six of the application forms had been filled up and submitted to the company to date. The remaining seven are still deciding whether or not to re-apply, given that new employment conditions include a six-month probation.
