Last day on the job for 110 laid-off PowerSeraya workers

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Last day on the job for 110 laid-off PowerSeraya workers
By Yvonne Cheong, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : Wednesday was the last day on the job for some 110 workers at PowerSeraya.

The retrenched staff will get one month of pay for each year of service and continue to enjoy medical insurance for another year.

Counsellors were at Jurong Island to help not just those who had been laid off, but also their colleagues.

Some of the workers who were retrenched had been with the company for over 20 years, and this could have been their first job since the PUB days.

So they would not just feel the loss of the job but also the emotional ties they have built up over the years.

"Many grown up adults were just crying for their colleagues who lost their jobs because they were so close. Basically their whole life they've contributed to the organisation and also they have been the backbone of Singapore's economic growth," said A Nithia Nandan of the Union of Power and Gas Employees.

"Those colleagues who have left us, they have left a gap in us, our lives, but life must go on," added PowerSeraya technical officer Teo Kwee Meng.

"We have to accept that there's no more iron rice bowl. We'll do our parts to keep ourselves relevant, so hopefully we'll stay in the industry and not be replaced."

Competition, slowing demand and the switch to more efficient natural gas plants were the reasons given by the company for the layoff of 110 workers at PowerSeraya.

The retrenchment package also includes medical insurance for one year for the worker and his family.

Another S$300,000 will be distributed to the workers based on their needs.

The company also set aside S$60,000 for training and S$20,000 to engage counsellors.

A farewell and thank you party for these workers will be held on 2 March.

The last time Power Seraya cut staff was five years ago when it shut down its Jurong plant. More than 100 staff lost their jobs then. - CNA