AT THE 2ND INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC (ITUC-AP) REGIONAL CONFERENCE
11 May 2011, Wednesday, NTUC Club Downtown East
Bro G. Rajasekaran, President of ITUC-AP;
Bro Noriyuki Suzuki, General Secretary of ITUC-AP;
Bro Jaap Wienen, Deputy General Secretary of ITUC;
Bro Dan Cunniah, Director of ILO ACTRAV;
Bro Gan Kim Yong, Singapore Minister for Manpower;
Bro Bob Tan, Vice-President of the Singapore National Employers Federation;
Bro Lim Swee Say, Secretary-General of the SNTUC;
Members of the ITUC-AP Regional General Council;
Sisters and Brothers
Good morning and a very warm welcome to our overseas friends to Singapore and our local partners
In 2000, the then-ICFTU APRO held its regional conference in Singapore in the aftermath of the 1997/1998 Asian Financial Crisis. 11 years on, the SNTUC is once again very privileged to be the host of the 2nd ITUC-Asia Pacific Regional Conference. It is indeed double happiness for us as we host this important conference for two reasons. First, Singapore has recovered from the 2008/2009 Global Financial Crisis. Second, this year marks the Singapore Labour Movement's 50th year of serving the workers of Singapore.
The theme of this regional conference which is “Unity - The Way Forward" resonates deeply with the Singapore labour movement. Indeed, it is because the Singapore tripartite partners have stayed united, through good and bad times, that Singapore has again and again overcame many crises in the last 50 years. The recent global financial crisis is the latest testimony of how tripartite efforts have helped us to deal with the downturn swiftly and effectively.
Even as we celebrate 50years of advancing the interests and improving the lives of workers, there are new challenges looming in the horizon. Like many of you, we faced common challenges such as an increasing proportion of atypical workforce, a widening income gap and an ageing workforce.
We believe that labour movements all over the world can and must play a bigger role to advance the interests of workers. Social partners will only take Unions seriously if Unions are united and strong. To this end, the Singapore labour movement has been expanding its membership to cover workers of All Collars, All Ages and All Nationalities, which we termed "All CAN". We will build on our “All CAN"‚ membership base with a three-generation approach of reaching out to workers of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Various SNTUC communities such as nEbo (for students aged 12 - 25 years old), Young NTUC, Women Development Secretariat (WDS), U Family and U Live have set up booths at the Begonia Terrace so do visit them if you would like to find out more about the various programmes they have undertaken to engage with members of varying needs.
To help workers, especially low-waged workers, increase their real income, we will continue to work closely with our social partners to train and re-train our workers so that they can improve their productivity and earn better wages or obtain the necessary skills to take on better paying jobs that have been created.
We also believe that for unions to remain relevant to workers, we must offer services beyond collective bargaining. Our 12 social enterprises have played an important role to moderate the cost of living and stretch the hard-earned money of workers. We will strengthen our social enterprises so that we can serve the needs of even more workers and Singaporeans.
In the next few days, there will be opportunities to network and mingle with one another. I urge all of us to share experiences and co-operate closely so that we can find new and innovative ways to help our workers overcome the challenges ahead.
Singapore is strong in tripartism. In 2010 at the ILC in Geneva, its brand of tripartism was presented. May I now welcome Minister Gan Kim Yong, representing the Singapore Tripartite Partners, to give us an address.
