Singapore was first introduced to the concept of Company Training Committees (CTCs) on the first day of the Budget Debate this year.
At the time, Industry 4.0 was the trending concept among thought leaders.
In his parliamentary speech, NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng said that Industry 4.0 would not be possible without workers who have the skills to move the machinery of the industries.
It was then he revealed the Labour Movement’s plans to help workers to become what he called “Worker 4.0” – a worker who has adaptive, technological and the technical skills to compete in the industry of the future.
Part of the plan was to set up training committees – later called CTCs.
The CTCs comprise union leaders and management who come together to identify disrupted jobs and new roles, as well as curate relevant training to help workers in the companies keep up with industry transformation
Mr Ng also said that NTUC was already working with 10 companies to pilot training committees where management and the union would work together to identify and plug skill-gaps of workers. At the time, some 64,000 workers from the 10 companies stood to benefit from the initiative.
One of the first few companies to set up a training committee was ST Engineering's Aerospace Sector, who has a workforce of 9,000.
It was a few days before May Day 2019 when the Labour Movement unveiled its goal of having 1,000 CTCs in three years. This would help prepare some 330,000 workers to become Worker 4.0.
As of July 2019, more than 60 companies from various industries such as aerospace and aviation, hospitality, building and facilities management, healthcare, infocomm, manufacturing and maritime have come on board the initiative.
In fact, the manufacturing cluster collectively agreed to form CTCs that will prepare some 12,000 workers to become Worker 4.0.
All the companies that have agreed to form CTCs are all either already working with unions to future-proof workers or are in the process of laying out the plans with their unions to do so.
Of course, we shouldn’t judge the success of the CTCs by looking at how many of them have been formed, but rather by the outcomes of the initiatives. There have already been a few success stories. But yes, more work needs to be done to truly make every worker a Worker 4.0.
