Johor rest days switch may lead to higher consumer prices

The Johor state government's decision to change its weekend days to Friday and Saturday from the traditional Saturday and Sunday, could lead to higher manpower costs, which could in turn lead to higher prices for consumers, said companies and stakeholders in Singapore.The Singapore Fruits and Vegetable Importers and Exporters Association said goods from Johor Bahru may end up costing slightly more.

That is because workers will still need to work on Fridays to meet demand in Singapore, so workers will have to be given overtime pay.

The same concerns are also expressed by logistics companies as drivers will now have to be recalled on their rest days.

They said the challenge will be in coordinating work times and logistics, as the new rule kicks in just a month before the Lunar New Year.

The Johor State government has announced that come January, weekends will start on Friday instead of Saturday. And the start of the work week will fall on a Sunday.

Dave Ng, chairman of Singapore Transport Association, said: "The mindset of all of us is to work five and a half days, but you have to really convince people because from five and a half days, you are actually working one full week. So you have to change the mindset.

“We can look into alternatives. To get different colleagues to come in for the first 6 months and see how these things go and we will then see how we can adjust to make sure service is not affected."

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