| No reason given for termination | |||||
| Aware Centre manager thought she was to help with EOGM when she was called last night | |||||
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IN JUST 48 hours, two Aware members have been suddenly told that their services were not needed.
The first is Ms Schutz Lee, Aware Centre's manager, its highest-ranking paid staff. The other is Mr Michael Chick, 39, an Aware volunteer. Ms Lee told The New Paper last night: 'They (the new committee) can terminate me because I'm on a service contract. But on what grounds have they terminated me?' Her sacking appears to be a calculated move. On Tuesday night, Ms Charlotte Wong, the vice-president of Aware, reminded her to turn up at the Aware Centre along Dover Crescent, for an executive committee (exco) meeting at 7pm. Ms Lee thought she was needed to handle the logistics and administrative matters for the upcoming extraordinary meeting. This meeting is slated to take place on 2May at the First Choice Auditorium in Toa Payoh from 2pm to 5pm. But Ms Lee suspected something was up when she didn't get to sit in on the meeting and had to wait outside the meeting room instead. Her suspicions were confirmed when, at about 8pm, Ms Wong walked out of the meeting room and gave her a letter of termination in front of other committee members, Ms Sally Ang, Ms Irene Yee, Ms Peggy Leong and Ms Caris Lim. Explanation Ms Lee asked why she was terminated, and Ms Wong wanted to explain it to her in another room. But Ms Lee said that whatever Ms Wong wanted to say to her could be said in the open. According to her, Ms Wong declined to do so. Ms Lee refused to accept her termination and didn't sign the termination letter. Instead, she tore it up and threw it in the wastepaper basket. When The New Paper informed Ms Lee that contract employees could be released without a reason, she insisted: 'I have a right to ask for a reason as an individual. They (the new committee) said I have to accept my termination, but I don't think I've done anything wrong. 'I understand that I have a contract with Aware that can be terminated, but there was no reason given on my letter of termination.' She asked angrily and repeatedly: 'For what reason am I terminated?' Ms Lee has been an Aware member for more than 15 years and has volunteered for various programmes. She was an exco member in 1995, organised many charity fund-raisers and has sat on Aware's work-life balance and human resources sub-committees. She started work at Aware in February under a short-term contract which was slated to last until the end of next month. She was to work part-time, three days a week, supervising staff members and, ironically, hiring staff. Ms Lee said: 'I suspect they (the new exco) terminated me because they think I didn't give over information to them. But this is not true. Whatever I have, I gave to them.' Neither Ms Lim, a veteran member, nor Ms ChewI-Jin, another veteran who turned up at Dover Crescent after the press conference, were informed of Ms Lee's termination. Ms Lim was against terminating a staff member but was overruled, according to Ms Lee. The Aware old guard, comprising Ms Constance Singam, Ms Margaret Thomas, Ms Dana Lam, Ms Tan Joo Hymn, Ms Corrina Lau, Ms Ravqind Kaur and others, arrived at the Aware Centre at about 8.30pm last night. When The New Paper called at about 10pm, Ms Lee and the old guard could still be heard arguing heatedly with the new guard in the background. The other person who was suddenly told his services were not needed was Mr Chick, a film-maker. The veteran Aware volunteer was supposed to give a talk at a secondary school about parents and how to prevent sexual violence against children. He told The New Paper that he received a call from Aware on Tuesday afternoon saying that the talk was 'off' and he was not needed. According to him, Aware provided no reason why he was no longer needed. 'I suspect that it was more to do with the topic than anything else,' he said. 'I really don't know. But it's shocking, really.' |
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