Singapore jails Chinese bus driver over strike

Singapore sentenced a Chinese immigrant bus driver to six weeks in prison on Monday for his involvement in the city-state’s first labour strike in 26 years.

Pushing for the jail term as a deterrent, the prosecution argued in court that although Bao Feng Shan, 38, was not an instigator of the strike, he was “far from a mere passive participant.”

The prosecution said a lenient approach may encourage others to think that they can commit similar offences and “conveniently express remorse to escape custodial sentence.”

A total of 171 Chinese bus drivers went on strike last Monday in protest at being paid nearly a quarter less than Malaysian bus drivers who work for the same transport company.

More than half continued to protest on Tuesday but the strike was over by Wednesday. It disrupted about 5 per cent of the city-state’s bus services.

Walking off the job in protest is almost unheard of in Singapore, which requires essential service workers such as bus drivers to give 14 days’ notice of a strike. The last strike was in 1986 by shipyard workers.