“Instead of cooperation, their instructions were rejected. They were told to ‘shut up’, and received an aggressive verbal tirade of profanities and taunts,” said USE.
“The tense situation dissipated when parents of the school children who were trying to go in to pick up their children stepped in to request the driver to move.”
The union said that the principal “immediately altered his demeanour” and cooperated, telling one of the parents that she was “very polite”.
“This incident created intense, unnecessary friction for a whole ecosystem of ground-level workers, including our frontline security officers who faced significant hostility while executing their public safety duties, and the local bus driver caught in an operational bottleneck between passenger demands and traffic regulations,” the union said.
It added that one of the security officers had made an official police report over the verbal abuse and obstruction.
In response to a query from CNA on Friday, the police confirmed that a report had been lodged over the incident.
USE said that it is working closely with the unnamed unionised security agency that employs the affected officers to support them and ensure that “their well-being is taken care of throughout this process”.
“USE stands firmly behind our officers, who were placed in an incredibly challenging operational environment while trying to keep the premises safe,” the union added.CNA has reached out to USE and SAFRA Jurong for more information.
USE’s Facebook post drew a number of comments that were critical of the conduct of one of the security guards seen in the video, however. The driver of the bus, meanwhile, reportedly said that one of the security guards raised her voice at passengers.
CNA has asked USE for further comment on the matter. It has also sent SAFRA Jurong queries about the incident.
