SINGAPORE: The clauses requiring Bukit Canberra hawkers to provide free meals will be removed when their tenancy agreements are renewed in September, the operator said on Friday (Aug 15).
In a post on Facebook, Canopy Hawkers Group said it has “heard the feedback and concerns” that have been raised.
A 2024 version of the contract seen by CNA states that a stall tenant “shall participate” in the pay-it-forward programme “as implemented and/or directed by the company”, requiring them to set aside 100 meals at their own cost for the scheme.
Lawyers told CNA on Thursday that the wording of the clause in the existing contracts, particularly the use of the word “shall”, suggested that tenants are legally obligated to participate in the scheme.
Canopy Hawkers Group previously said that it initially included the clause because the tenants were selected based on their willingness to participate in the pay-it-forward programme.
“At that time, we felt it was important to include the commitment as a clause in the tenancy agreement because other hawkers had lost out on securing a stall based on, among other things, this commitment,” the operator said in its Facebook post on Friday.
Acknowledging again that participation in charitable causes should be voluntary, the operator said: “But given the circumstances, we saw the arrangement as one that balanced both the voluntary involvement with the fulfilment of their promises.”
Some hawkers had shared that they may not be able to fulfil their commitments “even though they would have liked to, if their circumstances had been better”, said Canopy Hawkers Group in the Facebook post.
The operator also said it learned that the meal assistance programme running in the constituency where Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre is located relies on voluntary contributions from patrons, not hawkers.
“We therefore decided to hold back on implementing the ‘Pay-It-Forward’ initiative, and may decide not to proceed based on the current concept,” the operator said.
This is why no hawkers have been penalised for not providing free meals under the tenancy agreements and the management does not intend to enforce the obligation in the future, it said in its post. “This is a commitment we are making publicly.”
The operator also addressed the interest in budget meals provided at Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre, which it noted was different from the programme meant to provide free meals to customers in need.
“To provide residents with a range of offerings at Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre, we work with our hawkers to offer food options at different price points. This includes more affordable value meals,” it said in its post on Friday.
“These value meals do not form a large part of the meals sold, and our hawkers are not expected to make a loss selling value meals.”
Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre is one of several social enterprise hawker centres in Singapore. In 2024, then-Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon said that all social enterprise hawker centre operators must propose ways to ensure affordable food options are available as part of their tender proposals.
“So far operators have committed that all stalls in their centres will provide at least one value meal option. This is not an attempt to force hawkers to sell all of their dishes at low prices,” he had said at the time.
