Chinese drivers charged over Singapore strike

Four mainland Chinese bus drivers accused of instigating Singapore’s first strike since the 1980s were charged on Thursday with criminal offences that could land them in prison.

The four men, aged from 32 to 39, were taken to court one day after mainland Chinese drivers at state-linked transport group SMRT ended a two-day work stoppage aimed at securing better pay.

If found guilty of involvement in an illegal strike, they could be jailed for up to a year or fined a maximum of Sg$2,000 ($1,640) -- the equivalent of two months’ wages for a driver.

The charge sheet stated that the four “did engage in a conspiracy” to “instigate workmen employed by SMRT Buses Ltd” to take part in a strike on Monday and Tuesday.

The drivers, looking grim in T-shirts as they were brought to court, were arrested on Wednesday and Thursday and remanded in custody for a week after being charged.

One of them, 32-year-old He Jun Ling, also faces a second charge, for posting a statement on a Chinese website urging drivers to fight for their dignity by refusing to board shuttle buses from their dormitory to a depot.

Riot police were on standby outside the workers’ dormitory during the strike but no violence took place. A total of 171 drivers joined the protest on the first day, with the number falling to 88 on the second day.