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4 Chinese drivers jailed over strike in SingaporeAFP SINGAPORE--A Singapore court on Monday sentenced four Chinese bus drivers to jail terms of up to seven weeks after they pleaded guilty to instigating the city-state's first strike in nearly three decades.
February 26, 2013, 12:15 am TWN Liu Xiangying, 33, Gao Yue Qiang, 32 and Wang Xianjie, 39 — all former drivers at state-linked Singapore transport firm SMRT — were each sentenced to six weeks in prison for conspiring to launch a two-day strike last November. He Jun Ling, 32, who faced an additional charge of provoking colleagues to stay away from work through an online posting, was jailed for seven weeks. Another Chinese driver was sentenced to six weeks in jail in December while 29 others were deported without facing trial after the drivers staged a work stoppage to protest alleged pay discrimination and poor living conditions. Judge See Kee Oon said after imposing the jail terms on Monday that “the sentence must be of sufficient duration to signal its deterrent intent” even though the strike “may have been motivated by a sense of grievance.” “This had the potential to severely affect the daily lives of all commuters who rely on public transport,” the judge added.
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