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Mr Speaker, Budget 2019 has been billed as a strategic plan aimed at building a strong and united Singapore. I am glad that the Minister for Finance has acknowledged in his Budget Speech that strengthening Singapore’s economic competitiveness is an ever-continuing journey, and there is more that we can do to support Singaporeans on this journey. My speech today will focus on two areas which I think we can do more, especially for working Singaporeans – in Training, and in Workplace Safety and Health.
Training
First, I was heartened to hear that the Government will be dedicating $3.6 billion towards helping our workers thrive and adapt to industrial and technological changes. With the increasing pace of technological advancement, we must ensure that workers – be it those in multi-national companies or those in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) – are able to tap on training opportunities and ensure that they continue to stay relevant amidst the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
From the feedback that I have received in my weekly visits to workplaces, and through speaking to a broad spectrum of blue and white collared workers, I have identified three key challenges facing our workers when it comes to training. They are course, cost, and time.
Three Key Challenges – Course, Cost, Time
The first challenge that workers face comes when selecting their courses. The government rolled out the SkillsFuture initiative to encourage a culture of lifelong learning. The initiative has done well, with about 465,000 Singaporeans benefitting from SkillsFuture Credit training subsidies. However, there is an overemphasis on having a breadth of courses available, rather than having in-depth SkillsFuture courses to help build mastery in the domain. Some have also given me feedback that the process of course selection can be disheartening, especially when they find that a course offered by a polytechnic or university is not eligible for reimbursement by SkillsFuture Credit.
The second challenge is cost. The $500 SkillsFuture Credit offered by the government may not be sufficient for a variety of reasons. Many courses cost more than $500, and often going on a single one-off course would deplete your entire SkillsFuture Credit account. Many workers do harbour hopes of returning to school to get that diploma or degree that they did not pursue when they were younger. But the cost of these courses can be prohibitive, as they are no longer eligible for the same subsidies enjoyed by young Singaporean students.
The third challenge is simply the lack of time. Many working in SMEs tell me that they do not have time to go for training as their organisations are already so manpower-lean. Those in MNCs do not have it easier either. They tell me that while they are given the time to go for training in the day, they end up pulling what they call “double shifts” – having to still complete their work at night after class, in the office or at home. Cost and time are also two of the most common reasons given by those who have yet to utilise their SkillsFuture Credits.
How then can we collectively work to address these challenges that our workers are facing? I am proposing three strategies:
a) Build depth;
b) Bring training closer to workers; and
c) Formalise the importance of training with Management
Building Depth
First, building depth. The government can encourage workers to go for training and build depth in their chosen fields by allowing all local polytechnic and university courses to be automatically offset by SkillsFuture Credit. This should cover all types of courses, be it part-time diplomas, specialist certificates, executive education programmes, and one-off specialist modules. Given the more expensive nature of such courses, I would urge the government to consider providing a top up to the SkillsFuture Credit to encourage Singaporeans to go for courses that provide them with more depth to support their career goals. Better still, I hope the government can give all adult Singaporeans a second bite of the cherry by providing education subsidies to mature students who wish to pursue a diploma or degree in our local institutes of higher learning (IHLs). This will certainly cement our commitment to invest in lifelong learning!
Helping to identify training needs and craft in-depth training courses is an area where tripartite cooperation is useful. The National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) has been actively working with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the public transport operators to help our workers upskill and reskill. This includes setting up the Singapore Bus Academy and the Singapore Rail Academy to provide workers with relevant and timely training.
Last year, the union worked with SBS Transit (SBST) to roll out the Operator-Maintainer training course, which empowers bus captains to perform simple vehicle repairs. At the course’s graduation ceremony, I met 63-year-old Bus Captain Varathan. He has been a bus captain for over 40 years and this was the first time he was taught to do maintenance work on his vehicle. He was one of the pioneers to complete the course and shared with me how there were plenty of hands-on practice which made the training easier to understand. He was also appreciative of the chance to develop skills that would come in handy in his daily work. I hope the story of Varathan will inspire many more workers to have a lifelong learning attitude and be open to training and upskilling.
Bringing Training Closer to Workers
Second, let us bring training closer to workers to support them in their lifelong learning journey. Some courses cannot be done online. For courses that require a physical premise, schools and IHLs can be a convenient location for workers to go and upgrade themselves.
The Labour Movement has begun taking steps to bring training closer to our workers. The United Workers of Electronics & Electrical Industries (UWEEI) has signed memorandums of understanding with three polytechnics – in the west, east and north – to provide workers with a wide variety of training courses at locations close to their workplace or home.
For SMEs worried about sending their employees for training over a long period of time, we can bring training closer by having modular courses offered online. SMEs can leverage NTUC’s e2i U Leap app, a mobile learning platform that allows users to learn bite-sized modules on the go, and take anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours off work to focus on learning during the week. Last year, e2i also released U Leap Enterprise – a mobile learning platform where e2i works with companies to curate specific courses for their workers, which I think is very suitable for SMEs to address workers’ training needs. This will not only save employees’ travel time and hassle, it also minimises downtime for the company.
Formalising the Importance of Training with Management
To ensure that upgrading workers’ skills is seen as a priority towards a company’s transformation, training must be formalised and recognised by Management. Thus, I encourage companies to work with the Labour Movement to make training a shared responsibility and make training real for our workers.
Workplace Safety and Health
Mr Speaker, let me now touch on workplace safety and health (WSH). It is imperative that we continue to invest in WSH practices to ensure that our workers can return home to their families, safe and healthy, every day. Our closely coordinated tripartite efforts in recent years have started to bear fruit. Workplace fatalities in 2018 have reached a record low of 41 cases. But despite the decrease in fatalities, the number of major and minor injuries have increased.
There are four areas that we can do more to safeguard our workers’ safety and health at the workplace.
More Emphasis on Workplace Health
First, we need to place more emphasis on workplace health. Our workforce is ageing and many have shared with me that they are increasingly facing higher stress levels. Recent studies have shown that poor workplace health contributes to work-related injuries and fatalities. We can do more to place more emphasis on workplace health, for example, by mandating yearly health check-ups for better detection and prevention of chronic occupational diseases.
Differentiated Insurance Premiums
Second, to encourage employers to build safer and healthier workplaces, we need to increase the cost to companies with poor WSH track record as deterrence. Under the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA), all employees doing manual work, as well as all employees earning $1,600 or less per month need to be insured. Insurance companies should put in place a tiered insurance premium framework under WICA, where companies will have to pay higher insurance premiums if there are many claims of the same incident nature.
Mandatory WSH Representative in Every Company
Third, every company must have a trained WSH representative. The current legislation only mandates for a WSH officer to be appointed in some workplaces, such as shipyards, petroleum processing plants, and factories which employs over 100 people. According to the 2018 National WSH Statistics Report released last week, even lower risk sectors are not spared from WSH accidents. As such, we should consider expanding the requirement of having a trained WSH representative to all companies, to make WSH pervasive in every workplace.
National WSH Training Academy
Fourth, we need a National WSH Training Academy. Our workforce is diverse, and it is this cultural diversity in our workforce that makes it challenging to train our local and foreign workers in WSH. There are currently 12 approved training providers that conduct WSH Workforce Skills Qualification courses for the construction and metal working industries, but the training resources at each of these training providers vary significantly. Having a National WSH Training Academy will better ensure high and consistent WSH standards across sectors, particularly in high-risk sectors like construction and manufacturing. I will speak more about this during the Committee of Supply debate.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Labour Movement is heartened by the government’s commitment and investment in our workers throughout the years, in particular the focus on deepening worker capabilities in this Budget. This is a government that cares for our workers. Let us continue to invest in lifelong learning and put in place strong measures for WSH to ensure a well-trained, future-ready, safe, and healthy workforce. Because this House must surely agree with me that Every Worker Matters.
Mr Speaker, I support the Budget.
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