I was a Foreign Worker

Someone jokingly asked why I've been writing about the plight of foreign workers. Are you trying to champion their cause? Be the spokesperson for those whose voices are never heard?

Eh, actually no. I didn't start out with such noble intentions.... I just felt burdened to share my thoughts because I've been deeply inspired by the article in CatholicNews. Also, it's because I had once been a "foreign worker".......not in the true sense of the word as we Singaporeans know it; but the plight was synonymous, albeit under a different set of work environment, industry and remuneration package.

I was a flight attendant with an American airline back in the 90s. Based in Singapore, we were known as RFAs (Regional Flight Attendants). As the name implied, we primarily flew the regional routes - Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Japan, Korea and China. The reason for this domicile was to capitalise on our language abilities to serve the Asia-Pacific routes and their customers.

Although our parent company was essentially American, we were able to inject the Asian hospitality and creativity onboard our Singapore flights. It was an ideal marriage between the American culture of freedom, friendliness and the Asian grace onboard. However, the only glitch (and a major one at that) was that the disparity between the US-based crew (American Flight Attendant or AFA) and their Asian counterparts soon became more apparent.

We were all formally trained at our US headquarters. Everyone had to pass the same stringent course, emergency training and work on observation flights to qualify for our first solo flight. It did not matter that some Singapore crew performed better; our employment terms, staff welfare and the perks were distinctively different.

For starters, the uniforms were coloured differently. So were the wings. And those were only the tip of the iceberg. We were neither unionised by the Americans nor locally. Our travelling perks and availability of seats were subject to seniority staff numbers and of course, the AFAs always had priority over the RFAs. When the crunch came in the form of economic downturn, fuel price hike and scaling back, the regional domiciles would be the first to close.

No wonder so many of our RFAs applied to be AFA and be based in Hong Kong instead. I understand how companies work and am not questioning their policies. In fact, our national carrier would do the same to its worldwide offices if it needs to downsize. Always trim the outer fats first.

Because of my airline experience, I can empathise with these foreign workers. I believe they deserve the same humanity treatment as everyone else. Since when did they become lesser beings?

In George Orwell's satirical novel "Animal Farm", the animals who overthrew humans had Seven Commandments which included a general credo "All animals are equal". But over time, the credo was changed to "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others" because the pigs had started to take charge and take on many human traits.

This poignant sentence has stayed with me through the years "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."

Are we more equal than these foreign workers in our midst?