TL;DR – Shookted by her amazing efficiency.
A 50-year-old female laundry operator who was employed at the laundry for more than 20 years has recently lost her job due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Helpless, she reached out to Member of Parliament (MP) Tin Pei Lin for help. Guess what? This MP found her a temporary job within two days! The efficiency!
According to Zaobao, Mdm Guo, 50, was made redundant in February this year after the laundry company she was working at was forced to shut down due to the pandemic. Fortunately, with her over 20 years of experience, Mdm Guo was able to find a job at another laundry company very quickly.
Before Mdm Guo could receive her confirmation of employment, Singapore imposed a circuit breaker period from Apr 7 in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Along with six other colleagues, Mdm Guo’s employment was put to a halt. It hit her hard.
Mdm Guo told the reporter that as her employment was affected by the pandemic for less than three months, she was not eligible to apply for the COVID-19 Support Grant. Neither was she eligible to enjoy the employee subsidies for a full-time employee as well, as she was not a confirmed employee yet.
Mdm Goh shared how she was in dire straits as her family relied on her monthly income of S$1,000 to pay off monthly expenses of S$600 for her 3-room HDB, which include mortgages, utilities, and phone bills. To make matters worse, Mdm Goh’s partner was also unemployed.
Mdm Guo recounted that she decided “try her luck” in sending MP Tin Pei Ling an email, after learning that the MacPherson MP was recruiting temporary seamstresses through an online Getai show.
To her surprise, the MP had not only responded to her within half an hour asking for her name and address, a person-in-charge from the grassroots also visited her home in the next half an hour! They made an arrangement for Mdm Goh to go to Community Club the next day to take the discussion further.
“I am really touched. I did not expect that she will reply to me. She was so efficient, and she even helped me in finding a temporary job so quickly. It is with her help that I can get through such difficult times,” said Mdm Goh.
A sewing machine was also loaned to Mdm Goh by the community group for free, allowing her to start work on Apr 20 and complete all mask sewing work by May 28!
Currently, Mdm Goh is waiting for her new company to notify her of the details for resumption of work. She shared that since operations for the catering industry and beauty industry have not been resumed, the laundry orders which her company has been receiving so far were from hospitals.
While the date for her to resume work has not been determined, Mdm Goh hopes to return to work as soon as possible.
Amazing efficiency
MP Tin Pei Ling said that amidst the pandemic, a huge amount of email messages was received. And out of these emails, about 10% to 20% were seeking employment assistance.
Some people have reached out for financial assistance, including those appealing for the Self-Employed Person (SEP) Income Relief Scheme (SIRS), the COVID-19 Support Grant application, while about 10% of them require employment assistance.
“I believe that these residents have urgent needs, and they need help in supporting their families before they can take the next step,” said Tin Pei Ling.
Mdm Guo said that the temporary job has helped her to ease some of her financial burdens.
According to the report, Mdm Goh has too, many times expressed that she was “touched” during her interview, and she had emailed MP Tin Pei Ling a few days ago to thank her for her help.
“When I learned from MP Tin Pei Ling that these masks are to be donated to the needy families, I am very happy that I can help others while being helped.”
Sewing masks for vulnerable communities
A total of 20,000 hand-made masks were sewn to help vulnerable groups while providing temporary employment opportunities for residents in the South East District.
MP Tin Pei Ling said that the “Masks Sewn With Love” project was organised as part of the People’s Association Women’s Integrated Network Council. This initiative aims to support those whose income has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by giving them a temporary employment opportunity, while at the same time, allowing them to give back to society.