The four SMRT drivers from China charged with instigating last week's strike, were on Thursday released on bail pending a further court mention on Dec 12.
Last week's illegal strike should not have any significant impact on the roll out of a $1.1 billion bus service enhancement plan, but the authorities will have to monitor whether it has any lingering effects on the recruitment and retention of bus drivers, said Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew.
Transport operator SMRT must retain its good practices even as the new management led by chief executive Desmond Kuek goes about correcting "bad ones", said Minister of State for Transport and Finance Josephine Teo.
The four SMRT drivers from China charged with instigating last week's strike, have been granted bail.
Nearly 80 per cent of Singaporeans felt transport operator SMRT should bear some responsibility for not managing the grievances of its bus drivers, even though it was wrong of them to stage a strike.
Bus operator SMRT will not be raising the salary of its bus drivers from China beyond a $25 increment that was announced last week.
A FIFTH driver who was charged this morning and pleaded guilty to commencing a strike was sentenced to six weeks in jail.
All 29 former SMRT bus drivers from China who took part in last week's illegal strikes have been repatriated, said the Home Affairs Ministry.
Just as transport operator SMRT must stay on top of its maintenance regime, so too must it take care with human resource matters, said Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo yesterday.
The actions taken against the Chinese SMRT bus drivers for their role in a two-day strike are not a bilateral issue between China and Singapore, Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said yesterday.
The strike by the Chinese SMRT bus drivers should serve as a timely reminder to all companies to reflect on their management practices, said Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin.
The 29 SMRT bus drivers from China who will be repatriated will get ex gratia bonuses on a pro rated basis before they leave.
Forty-five drivers with valid Class 4 licences have been mobilised to help meet the shortfall of bus drivers at transport operator SMRT.
The police has "substantially completed" its investigations into the illegal strike earlier this week and will be charging a fifth SMRT bus driver from China for instigating the work stoppage.
More than 20 SMRT bus drivers from China have been brought to Admiralty West Prison.
The Workers' Party on Friday weighed in on the strike by SMRT bus drivers, saying it was disappointed that it took such drastic action to surface grievances about their pay and living conditions.
SMRT is open to the idea of nominating bus drivers from China in each of the dormitories to represent their fellow countrymen and colleagues to provide feedback to its management, said the company's chief executive Desmond Kuek.
For the first time since more than a hundred bus drivers from China went on strike on Monday and Tuesday, SMRT chief executive Desmond Kuek made an appearance today at the Serangoon dormitory which houses some of them and spoke to his employees.
The Ministry of Manpower has told bus operator SMRT that labour and contractual grievances raised by its workers must be a priority and addressed quickly.
Four SMRT bus drivers from China have just been charged in court for their role in the illegal strike at a worker's dormitory in Woodlands earlier this week.
The Chinese embassy here has said in a statement that it is concerned about the arrests of four SMRT bus drivers for their role in the illegal strike earlier in the week.
Four SMRT bus drivers from China were arrested between Wednesday and Thursday for their role in the illegal strike earlier this week.
The 20 SMRT bus drivers assisting with police investigations into possible breaches of the law as a result of the illegal strike earlier this week, were held at the Police Cantonment Complex for at least half the day.
ALL SMRT bus drivers who went on strike returned to work yesterday, except six whom the operator said had provided valid reasons.
THE bus drivers should not have gone on strike as it could have repercussions on an essential public service - but Singaporeans are still empathetic towards their plight, a survey found yesterday.
ALL SMRT bus services were running as scheduled yesterday after two days of disruption resulting from illegal strike action by some bus drivers from China.
OPPOSITION parties have weighed in on the strike by SMRT bus drivers, calling for more to be done to protect workers.
Bus operator SMRT says there are lessons to be learnt from the illegal strike by its mainland Chinese bus drivers.
A group of SMRT bus drivers from China, who refused to report for duty earlier this week over a wage dispute, were seen entering the Police Cantonment Complex late Wednesday morning and have remained there ever since.
In an update on the SMRT bus drivers' illegal strike, SMRT says that all except six mainland Chinese drivers reported for their morning shift on Wednesday.
The SMRT bus drivers from China, who refused to report for duty earlier this week over a wage dispute, returned to work on Wednesday.
The trouble at SMRT apparently started after its bus drivers from China received their payslips last Friday. It confirmed that they had not got any pay increase in the latest salary adjustment.
China has asked Singapore to safeguard the rights and interests of Chinese workers according to local laws, the China News Service (CNS) reported.
Bus operator SMRT has released new figures on the number of its bus drivers from China who were involved in the illegal strike.
The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) says it supports the action taken by the Government regarding the illegal strike of the SMRT's bus drivers.
SMRT managed to get 95 per cent of its bus services running today despite about 60 China-born bus drivers not turning up for work.
The SMRT bus drivers' action on Monday was an illegal strike and will be dealt with, says Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin.
The industrial dispute between public transport operator SMRT and its China-sourced bus drivers took a new turn on Tuesday when 60 of them continued to stay away from work.
Yesterday's action by 102 SMRT bus drivers brought into focus issues that have come with transport operators' growing dependence on foreign workers.
For about two hours yesterday afternoon, the 100 or so SMRT bus drivers from China were huddled in a dormitory in Woodlands Sector 1, locked in negotiations over pay with SMRT management.
Was the SMRT bus driver episode a "strike"? Netizens seemed to think so, but the word "strike" was missing in official statements on the dispute.
About 100 SMRT bus drivers recruited from China have agreed to go back to work today, after day-long talks with the bus operator over salary, and work and living issues.
Salary and cramped living conditions - SMRT's bus drivers from mainland China who didn't turn up for work on Monday told The Straits Times that these are their main grouses.
Transport operator SMRT has released this statement on the mainland Chinese bus drivers who did not turn up for work this morning:
The National Transport Workers' Union (NTWU) has issued a press statement on the SMRT bus drivers' dispute. The union said that it does not have the legal mandate to represent the PRC bus workers of SMRT as they are not union members.
More than 100 SMRT bus drivers refused to go to work early Monday morning and instead assembled at their dormitory in Woodlands.
