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Sisters and Brothers
Our Young Friends from nEbO
#EWMC Partners
Fellow Central Committee Members
Brother Zaqy Mohamad, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Manpower
Brother Dr Robert Yap, President, SNEF
Sister Mary Liew, President, NTUC
Deputy Prime Minister Brother Lawrence Wong,
Good afternoon to all of you.
I turned the protocol table upside down, given that today is the launch of our Renewed Workers’ Compact.
In our egalitarian society, it is good to have the #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations (#EWMC) that NTUC has held over the last 12 to 18 months to place the working people of Singapore at the very center. Today, I am happy to see a sea of red representing NTUC, a sea of maroon representing the Singapore National Employers Federation, and of course, our government partners. What we have today in Singapore in terms of tripartism is something that we should all treasure.
When NTUC launched #EWMC a year ago, we were just emerging from COVID-19. The Singapore economy has never suffered this kind of shock ever in our history. Yet, we held together in a compact based on a foundation of trust that has lasted us 60 years.
But in that environment, and even emerging out of COVID-19 today, looking at the way ahead, the world has changed tremendously. There are geopolitical tensions and changing economic priorities – from globalisation to inward looking protectionism; Industry 4.0 technologies that can potentially replace human beings – all these add to the anxieties of workers across all quarters. This pertains not only to blue-collar workers but also the PMEs.
Coupled with what is happening within the shores of Singapore – the certainty of a super-aging population, the certainty that the Total Fertility Rate is going to be below 2.1, along with the uncertainties of the world coupled with the challenges we faced as a population – caused NTUC to reflect deeply on how we can do our part to support our Government and ensure that each and every rice bowl of Singaporeans can be full.
And that was the rationale of why we started the journey of #EWMC, thinking about how we can bring the best of our working people of all ages and all collars; and how to galvanize this action into a collective Workers’ Compact so that NTUC can champion your interests effectively, whilst taking into consideration employers’ business interests, to foster a win-win situation for both businesses and workers.
Unlike places in Europe where the contest for labour and capital is so severe such that strikes are happening in the UK transport system, and even amongst the nurses. My friend, who is a doctor, was shocked that even surgeons are going on strike in the UK. Nearer to our own shores, there are trucker strikes in Korea; and in Japan, after over 100 years of peaceful and polite conversations for the Labour Movement, the nurses went on strike for the very first time. And this is what’s happening to societies outside Singapore. With the launch of #EWMC, it is my hope that we’ll put our heads, our hearts, and our hands together to effect a new Compact forward for workers that will be plugged into our national compact from Forward Singapore, so that we can move together as a whole of society, for our common interest.
So it was a very, very wild ride in the #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations – across all ages. From the very young that I acknowledge your energy, your aspirations and your honesty in telling us what you want to do. This was eye-opening for older gentlemen like me. From senior workers at the other extreme end, for the anxieties of retirement adequacy, anxieties on whether you can go for upskilling; to the sandwich class of Singapore – the middle-aged professionals who have children below them needing school, who have caregiving responsibility for their aged and ill parents; to the freelancers who do not have steady work; to the lower wage workers who may face abuse from others – we have heard all your feedback and all your suggestions.
We have taken note of what every one of you have said during #EWMC. I sincerely thank all 42,000 of you who have participated in these conversations. Thank you for being there and sharing your deepest concerns and aspirations.
To the organizations that have supported us tremendously to reach different groups that NTUC is developing capabilities to outreach to. Thank you to The Yellow Ribbon Project, Singapore Prison Service, The New Charis Mission for helping us reach out to inmates and former offenders so that they can reintegrate into society.
To our HR partners: thank you to the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) for helping us understand some of the deeper concerns in the working landscape; including the Monetary Authority of Singapore, for partnering NTUC to reach out to students wanting to go into the financial industry; all the way to the IHLs, whether that be the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), the polytechnics, or the universities - thank you for partnering NTUC to engage their students to hear their concerns and aspirations.
I hope that through this exercise, all workers – regardless of collar or age – may know that NTUC is a trusted partner that journeys with you. In all that we do, the core mission of NTUC over the last odd 60 years has never changed. This core purpose is to ensure better lives and livelihoods for all. What our ecosystem of volunteers have done on the ground is very encouraging. I’m glad to see so many of you putting in your weeknights and weekends to foster this conversation that got us to where we are today. That foundation of strength that we have built to work this social contract forward. It is not just the 200 of you, it’s not just the 8000 hours of engagement.
Can we bring it forward to make it even stronger? Can we be that high-performing NTUC to propel and rally the working class of Singapore to move forward, intended for both better lives and livelihoods, but also to engender a stronger Singapore? I’m quite certain we can. But importantly, even as we celebrate the launch of the Renewed Workers’ Compact, this is only the start of a long journey.
The social compact or workers’ compact is a contract between different groups of people to bring into agreement what may be our anxieties, aspirations, needs; but importantly, that compact of putting our best in terms of our head, our heart in caring, our hands in action, is equally important. So when we chose the report cover, “Taking Action for You, With You” was a great initiative to ensure that as we close the chapter of the conversation, as we launch the new Compact, let’s make sure that we put our very best and take action together.
Let us take collective action and make it a habit to ensure that our fellow workers alongside can have the support they deserve. Let us take collective action, so that we can persuade employers to have fair practices for workers. Let us take action together to support employers that are pro-workers to expand their businesses, so that they can take better care of us. Let us take action together with our government, not just asking “what can you do for me as a worker”; it is not only about NTUC asking the government to change policies, but importantly, it is about NTUC giving our very best to ensure that we will do our part in building our society. That is what the Workers Compact is. And the way forward - as I say it again - NTUC will be alongside all of you, as President Mary Liew has promised, and as Secretary-General, I’ll do the same.
Even as DPM was engaging the different groups of workers in the foyer just now, I noted from the very young who are still in school, from the universities, undergraduates, to the fresh graduates, to those who are preparing for retirement. All are doing their best in their jobs so that they can do their best for their employers. All working people in Singapore are taking productive actions to meet our needs. We are collectively thinking about how we can strategize, plan, and hold this space in the tripartite arrangements we have, in order to ensure that workers’ interests are always part of policy formulation.
As we take action, let's remember that we need our head to strategize and plan, our heart to care, and our hands to do our part. In the long journey ahead, amidst all the challenges we will face as a country and as a people, let’s make it a habit to keep doing what we believe in collective action; building, reinforcing, and deepening the trust amongst all three partners.
Brother Robert Yap is a supporter of workers – and I am sure with many of the employers that are here today, they have very good practices. In fact, I was very pleasantly surprised that in the caregiver space, 30% of our employers have voluntarily introduced caregiving leave. This figure was a surprise to me. Are we able to persuade more companies to introduce flexible work arrangements so that workers can be taken care of? And if employers are able to afford to give employees caregivers’ leave, can we work towards building that trusting relationship – that when you care for workers, workers will work well for their employers?
To all our loyal friends who have become our ambassadors, and all the different partners in this room, I sincerely thank you. Let’s take collective action together to make our Compact a real one. Thank you to all of you for being active participants and I look forward to all of you being strong advocates and doers to make our Compact great.
Thank you very much Brothers and Sisters!
