APSN | Singapore sentences 4 Chinese strikers to jail

Home > South-East Asia >> Singapore

Singapore sentences 4 Chinese strikers to jail

Associated Press - February 26, 2013

Singapore ruling party faces increasingly vocal electorate - Jakarta Globe. February 17, 2013
Singapore gay couple seeks to abolish gay sex law - Associated Press. February 14, 2013
By-election loss forces Singapore into delicate balancing act - Reuters. January 28, 2013
Singapore laments the bygone era of the birthquake - Jakarta Globe. January 22, 2013
Australian activist deported from Singapore - Agence France Presse. December 18, 2012

Faris Mokhtar, Singapore – A Singapore court has sentenced four Chinese immigrant bus drivers to up to seven weeks in prison for instigating the city-state's first labor strike in 26 years.

Three of the men were sentenced Monday to six weeks' imprisonment. A fourth driver faced an additional charge of publicizing the strike in an online post and received a seven-week jail term for his larger role. Another driver was jailed for six weeks in December and has been deported.

In the Nov. 26-27 strike, 171 Chinese bus drivers for a public transport company protested over being paid nearly a quarter less than their Malaysian colleagues.

Walking off the job in protest is almost unheard of in Singapore. The last strike was in 1986 by shipyard workers.