The compensation package for 119 staff affected by the closure of Raffles Country Club (RCC) has been finalised. They will receive the compensation on their last day of work.
Briefing sessions were held by RCC management on 21 August 2017 together with officials from the Attractions, Resorts & Entertainment Union (AREU) and NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute).
The RCC site at Tuas was acquired by the Singapore Government on 4 January 2017 to make way for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail project.
This is the second country club to be acquired after the Jurong Country Club, which closed on 31 December 2016.
Compensation Details
According to the RCC management, discussions on the retrenchment package began in January and were completed in July 2017.
Under the package, staff with less than two years of service will receive two weeks’ basic pay per completed year of service.
Those who have worked two years and above will be eligible for one month’s basic pay per year, capped at 25 years. This includes all staff who have been re-employed at age 62.
All affected staff will receive a $1,500 training grant and a one-year union membership with AREU.
“It was very responsible of the management to give advance notice and take care of the workers in terms of their training. The management is giving them time-off to attend training. From now, we would be very focused on training the affected workers for their next employment,” said AREU Executive Secretary Toh Hwee Tin.
Helping Workers
Workers we spoke to were happy with the compensation package.
Golf Marshall Amir Parus, 57 (in red t-shirt), who has been with RCC for 25 years said he would use the training grant to attend courses run by e2i to make a transition to another sector.
Moving forward, e2i will be having two meet-the-workers sessions on 5 and 6 September 2017 to discuss their training needs.
Employability camps, coaching sessions and a job fair for the ex-RCC workers have also been lined up from January to June next year.
Source: NTUC This Week
