"On Tuesday, long-time patron Gary Ho’s Facebook post went viral after he highlighted issues reportedly faced by stallholders at the hawker centre, such as cleaning charges, insurance fees and operating hours, as well as the way hawkers were made to sign contracts." (https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/minimum-o...)
From the corroboration of different sources (BI(SG), ST), it is unjust to claim that the hawkers were forced to open for "super long hours". Many tenants were aware and "fully understood and accepted the requirements when signing their tenancy contracts" and that "Other hawkers said that while they are held to similar requirements, such as notifying the managing agent if they intend to close their stalls beyond their declared rest days". The opening hours were not as long as purported to be.
However there seems to be some uncertainties about "...sign(ing) ridiculous legal documents in English without a translator...". Albeit Ho has alleged that the stall owner had told him the documents that were presented were in English, NTUC Foodfare refuted that "tenancy agreements hawkers had signed were in both English and Chinese" and to which showed a Stall Holder Checklist written in both English and Chinese. Whether anot the legal documents mentioned is the Stall Holder Checklist is unclear.
It appears that other social enterprise hawker centres (SEHC) also face exorbitantly high prices. In another hawker centre, Seetoh pointed out that "The expenses can include charges for crockery washing and coin exchange services, as well as a S$600 fee for monthly cleanliness inspections, ..., which some stall holders said were compulsory". Although "hawker centre operator Fei Siong Food Management said that the S$600 it charged a stall recently was for an optional inspection service", hawkers willing to be interviewed claimed the fee to be mandatory. Another SEH mentioned he was charged S$80 a month for (POS) system for three years (about $3000), and futhermore it did not belong to him. The median stall rental at SEHC is $2,000 (-NEA), compared to $610 in NEA's model in July. With added on cost such as cleaning and coin exchange in SEHC, there is a stark difference in operating cost in the two different models.
"On Tuesday, long-time patron Gary Ho’s Facebook post went viral after he highlighted issues reportedly faced by stallholders at the hawker centre, such as cleaning charges, insurance fees and operating hours, as well as the way hawkers were made to sign contracts." (https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/minimum-o...)
From the corroboration of different sources (BI(SG), ST), it is unjust to claim that the hawkers were forced to open for "super long hours". Many tenants were aware and "fully understood and accepted the requirements when signing their tenancy contracts" and that "Other hawkers said that while they are held to similar requirements, such as notifying the managing agent if they intend to close their stalls beyond their declared rest days". The opening hours were not as long as purported to be.
However there seems to be some uncertainties about "...sign(ing) ridiculous legal documents in English without a translator...". Albeit Ho has alleged that the stall owner had told him the documents that were presented were in English, NTUC Foodfare refuted that "tenancy agreements hawkers had signed were in both English and Chinese" and to which showed a Stall Holder Checklist written in both English and Chinese. Whether anot the legal documents mentioned is the Stall Holder Checklist is unclear.
It appears that other social enterprise hawker centres (SEHC) also face exorbitantly high prices. In another hawker centre, Seetoh pointed out that "The expenses can include charges for crockery washing and coin exchange services, as well as a S$600 fee for monthly cleanliness inspections, ..., which some stall holders said were compulsory". Although "hawker centre operator Fei Siong Food Management said that the S$600 it charged a stall recently was for an optional inspection service", hawkers willing to be interviewed claimed the fee to be mandatory. Another SEH mentioned he was charged S$80 a month for (POS) system for three years (about $3000), and futhermore it did not belong to him. The median stall rental at SEHC is $2,000 (-NEA), compared to $610 in NEA's model in July. With added on cost such as cleaning and coin exchange in SEHC, there is a stark difference in operating cost in the two different models.