In early February 2012, 48 excellent students of the third and fourth year of the Hanoi University of Foreign Trade, one of the most famous universities in Vietnam, were chosen for the one-year internship and working period in Singapore. 37 students were told to work at Changi Airport and 11 at Wingtai fashion retail chain. 

The selected students were told that they would have the chance to work and practice in a modern, professional working environment, improve their foreign language skills. Especially, they were promised to enjoy attractive wages of 450 Singaporean dollars a month at minimum.

Just two months after leaving for Singapore, the students emailed to the school board of management, complaining that they are the victims of the “labor exploitation,” and “discriminatory treatment.” They also pointed out that the working and living conditions are quite different from what they were promised.

The selected students all are working at SATS, the company which provides land services to Changi international airport. The students’ daily work is pushing wheelchairs for disabled, while some of them have been forced to help undress passengers to relieve themselves.

Especially, the students have been forced to take the night working shifts, 1-9 am.

“We will try to bear the hard work, modest income, discriminatory treatment. However, working from one to nine o’clock would damage our health,” a female student said.

The student said that they had not been informed about the works and the provisions of the contracts signed with SATS until they attended a training course at the airport. Meanwhile, the partner has been usually late in paying wages and allowances. The utensils have low quality, while Internet access speed is very slow.

“I am studying at a leading university in Vietnam where we are taught the principles to avoid disadvantages when doing business with foreign partners. However, I am feeling that I am being cheated,” a student said.

While the problems of the students remain unsettled, the Hanoi Foreign Trade University is looking for other students for the next working trips to Singapore.

Dao Thi Thu Ha, MA, Deputy Head of the International Cooperation Division of the Hanoi University for Foreign Trade said on the afternoon of April 23 that some months before sending the 48 students to Singapore for the internship period, the President Hoang Van Chau himself and the advanced party flew to Singapore to check the places where his students would work.

Ha said the university joined forces with Singaporean Interisland, a job brokerage firm, to organize a workshop about the internship. Interisland said it would introduce laborers for SATS and Wingtai – the partners the university is cooperating for the first time.

Ha affirmed that the broker interviewed every student to test their qualification and explained to students about the works and the wages. “All the students, when asked if they are ready to push wheelchairs to help special passengers, answered “yes”,” she said.

Ha also said that working at night is inevitable, because the airport runs 24/24 hours a day, affirming that this was informed to students before they left Vietnam. However, facing the opposition from the students, SATS has agreed to remove the night shift from 1-9 am.

When asked about the commission Interisland pays to the school for the introduction of the students, Ha said that the commission is “inconsiderable,” about 100 dollars per student, adding that the school does not do this to make money, but just aims to create conditions for students to have internship periods in foreign countries.

 

Source: VnExpress