World in terrible Financial Crisis. What are your views?

[Eropagnis]

http://despair.com/viewall.html

[Stallion]

Companies urged to consider retrenchment as a last resort
By S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 19 November 2008 1400 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore's tripartite partners have strongly urged companies to manage their excess manpower and consider retrenchment only as a last resort in coping with the economic downturn.

Making the point were the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), the Singapore National Employers' Federation (SNEF) and the Manpower Ministry (MOM) in a set of guidelines on managing excess manpower which was released on Wednesday.

The tripartite partners said they understand that retrenchments may sometimes be inevitable.

In such a situation, companies have been urged to discuss with their unions to ensure that the retrenchment exercise is carried out responsibly and smoothly.

In the meantime, to help save jobs, companies have been encouraged to first consider cost-cutting measures. These include implementing shorter work week, temporary layoffs or other arrangements like part-time work.

Companies could also consider adjusting the various wage components with the consent of the unions or workers concerned.

When salary needs to be adjusted downwards, the guidelines said senior management should lead by example by cutting their salaries earlier or accept similar or deeper cuts.

Companies and their workers have also been urged to take advantage of the many skills upgrading programmes to re-position their workforce so that they could emerge stronger when the economy recovers.

All these would help reduce overall business costs and enhance their competitiveness.


- CNA/so

[tom]

Reference to Town Councils........

Every month each household pays an average $60 to the Town Council. Estimated 150 households in each block of flats, monthly payment to them amounts to almost $9000/- . Just calculate the number of flats in the whole of Singapore. 

The least we expect of them is to clean our corridors, regular lift maintenance to make sure it works properly, changing of fluoresent tubes where necessary. We surely dont need them to invest the collections for returns. What for ? who benefits ? Why employ so many fund managers to work in the Town Councils ? 

This is maybe the tip of the iceberg. What is not published, no body knows.

[Stallion]

I wondered if conservancy fees will then increase?

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/391733/1/.html

Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council says half of S$4m investment not written off
By Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 23 November 2008 2045 hrs
 
SINGAPORE: Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council said while it is looking at safer options for investing, it will also take into account what residents prefer.

The town council had invested S$4 million in financial products linked to the now bankrupt US investment bank, Lehman Brothers. It said around half of the amount has not been written off.

Speaking on the sidelines of a community event on Sunday, Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council chairman, Ahmad Magad, said the council has been communicating with some residents who have asked about the investments. And going forward, it will listen to what residents prefer.

Dr Ahmad said: "If they feel that the way forward is best for us to just park our funds in fixed deposits – that's what we'll do. But bear in mind that FDs will only give you minimal returns. At times, it doesn't even cover inflation."

He added that banks have informed the town council that as of end of October, its S$4 million investment still has a residual value of S$2.1 million. But he said he is not sure if the S$2.1 million can be recovered.

"There is still residual value in our minibond investments. As of October 31, our banks have written to us indicating that the S$4 million that we have invested still has a residual value of S$2.1 million. So it's not like it's been completely written off," said Dr Ahmad.

Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean, who is also one of the MPs for Pasir Ris-Punggol, said the town council had invested in the long-term interests of residents.

"It's quite unfortunate that this investment has turned bad, but we hope that over the long term, we'll still be able to get a good return so that the sinking funds that we have will be able to do all the long-term maintenance that is necessary for the residents and we're quite confident of that," said Mr Teo.

Pasir Ris-Punggol is one of eight town councils which had invested a total of S$16 million in troubled structured products.


- CNA/so