Nee Soon Town Council organises appreciation dinner for cleaners

Member of Parliament Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC) posted a video showing cleaners enjoying themselves on the dance floor, at an appreciation dinner held by the Nee Soon Town Council on Aug 10, 2018. PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM FACEBOOK/LOUIS NG KOK KWANG

SINGAPORE - They do their jobs silently, usually in the background, and we often forget about them.

Member of Parliament Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC) said in a Facebook post on Friday evening (Aug 10) that cleaners rarely get the gratitude and recognition they deserve.

"And for our foreign cleaners, it must have been so difficult for them to leave their homes to come and clean ours, to leave their family knowing that it would be years before they see them again," he said.

His words accompanied a video showing cleaners enjoying themselves on the dance floor, at an appreciation dinner held by the Nee Soon Town Council.

"I'm glad we... showed them appreciation for the hard work that they do and for giving us a clean environment to live in," Mr Ng added.

The Straits Times reported in June this year that some government measures like the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) have lifted the incomes of low-wage workers over the past decade, although more could be done to improve working conditions.

The PWM contributed to a 11 per cent boost to basic wages in the cleaning sector in 2016, an analysis by the National University of Singapore's Professor Ivan Png and economics graduate Kenneth Ler found.

Gross wages - including bonuses, allowances and overtime - were 20 per cent higher for cleaners in that year.

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