SMMWU working with Mustafa Centre to temporarily redeploy workers due to excess manpower

The Singapore Manual & Mercantile Workers' Union (SMMWU) has been working closely with Mustafa Centre's (Mustafa) management to redeploy the company's excess manpower, in order to avoid the retrenchment of these workers.

This comes as COVID-19 continues to impact the business due to a fall in tourists and shopper numbers, the SMMWU's Secretary-General, David Yeo, said in a statement on Sunday. 

He said: "Together with SMMWU, NTUC’s Hospitality and Consumer Business Cluster; NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute); and NTUC Job Security Council (JSC), are coordinating with the management to place workers on temporary deployment to other hiring companies in the cluster."

Further, he added, through NTUC's e2i, the JSC will provide job matching support so as to temporarily redeploy these workers to employers in need of manpower. These workers will have access to job interview opportunities with hiring employers in the F&B and retail sectors, and will also receive career coaching assistance to prepare them for the interviews.

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According to a letter addressed to the employees of Mustafa, seen by Straits Times, the company will be stopping the "sustenance allowance" that it has been paying its workers, whilst urging them to take up a second job to supplement their income. According to the letter seen by Straits Times, the organisation will also be unable to renew the work passes of its foreign workers, thus will repatriate them to their home countries. 

Photo / 123RF

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