"Celebrating a New Chapter" with U Live – A Community for Active Agers aged 55 and above
22 July 2009
Media Release
1. The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) launched U Live—a new community for active agers aged 55 years and above at DXO today with a series of performances to showcase a holistic suite of enhanced services in the areas of Work, Live and Play. U Live is the Labour Movement’s exclusive platform to reach out to these active agers by encouraging them to stay employed, enriched and engaged through its re-employment schemes, cause-centric initiatives, and age-specific interest groups and privileges
U Live - The Good Life
2. The tagline U Live- The Good Life signifies a new chapter in the lives of active agers, where they can look forward to many more productive and purposeful years ahead, enjoying a happy and healthy life. More working people today recognise the benefits of staying employed for financial independence and want to be engaged with society through leading an active social life. In view of our current 71,000-strong members who are 55 years and above, and another 151,000 members turning 55 in the next 10 years, the Labour Movement is expanding its membership pool by launching an all inclusive community - U Live
3. "We are living longer, and we want to live better too as we grow older. Under the vision of Labour Movement 2011, we have earmarked the Silver Collars, namely workers aged 55 and above, as a key community to serve. The NTUC has and will continue to expand its holistic suite of services relating to Work, Live and Play. We want our silver-collared members to live a productive, purposeful, happy and healthy life,” said NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say who was Guest-of-Honour at the launch celebrations as a newly-minted U Live member as he turned 55 this month
WORK
4. More and more seniors are recognising the benefits of working longer to stay financially independent and to keep their minds active. For seniors who are passionate about their work and enjoy the social interaction at their workplace, they find great satisfaction in staying employed. NTUC encourages more seniors to continue working to lead a more productive life. Their wealth of experience will also contribute meaningfully to the workforce
5. As such, two teams: the Raising Effective Retirement Age Team (RERA) and the Re-employment Expert Group (REG) have been set up with the mission to push the Labour Movement’s re-employment efforts to engage unionised companies on re-employment initiatives. For instance, in the areas of job redesign and training, the Labour Movement has since secured the commitment of 747 unionised companies, re-employing 5,421 older workers. U Live members can tap on this push and approach their unions for advice on re-employment issues so that they can make more informed decisions on their re-employment options
6. To help older workers adjust well to re-employment, courses such as the Seniors Employment Guidance Programme and the Re-Employment: Equipping and Developing Yourself (READY) Programme help retiring employees be better prepared for their re-employment years. Apart from changing mindsets to managing their expectations, the courses also cover financial, social and health aspects of the seniors. A collaboration between NTUC and the Centre for Seniors (CFS), these programmes have benefitted over 700 seniors thus far. U Live members who are approaching one year before the retirement age of 62 will get to enjoy a $4 discount off the course fee of $14 for the one-day READY Programme. Additionally, U Live will conduct regular re-employment talks and publish employment articles on its website (www.ulive.sg) to educate and assist its members in the work aspect
LIVE and PLAY
7. The Labour Movement believes that regardless of age, one can always contribute to society, assist other people or do one’s part for a useful cause. In the ‘Live’ aspect, U Live strives to encourage seniors to live life to the fullest with a purpose. From mentoring programmes to caring for the community, U Live aims to encourage social responsibility and impart skills and knowledge to others in the areas of sports, environment and culture. Some of the programmes in the pipeline include active agers teaching dialects to our youths to preserve and promote culture and heritage, coaching lessons in golf and tennis, and embracing eco-friendly practices
8. To foster relationships through common interests, there are various age-specific interest groups lined-up under ‘Play’. Our active agers can choose from a wide selection of sports, social and cultural interest groups, such as Eco Club (Gardening), Golden Bowl (Bowling), Happy Feet (Line Dancing) and Golden Eye (Photography), just to name a few. U Live is also introducing many more interest groups, such as golf, cycling, travel and wine appreciation, to ensure that there is always something interesting and relevant for our members
9. Besides activities, U Live also has many attractive benefits in terms of exclusive dining, leisure and retail privileges. These new privileges have been specially selected, and are over and above the existing benefits available to all NTUC members. Working closely with partners including NTUC Foodfare, Cathay Cineplexes, Orchid Bowl, Prime Magazine and Nestlé Omega, efforts are made to ensure that the various benefits, cool deals and great discounts are applicable and useful for our active agers to live the good life
U Live FACTSHEET
Moving into new communities
NTUC Club has been organising activities for retirees under a quasi community—The Third Chapter since 1995. Building on its success, this ‘Play’ aspect is now expanded and extended to all who are 55 years old and above, both working and retired. The move towards re-employment and encouraging workers to stay employed as long as possible means there is no clear age when one retires and is beyond employment. U Live helps our senior members discover new work opportunities as well as maintain their association with the Labour Movement at all stages of their lives. The wide variety of lifestyle and life skill activities, will promote an enriching and balanced lifestyle with emphasis on mental and physical wellness as well as financial health, allowing members to continue to ‘live the good life’
U Live is one of the initiatives of the Labour Movement to be all inclusive in its engagement. Besides launching nEbO in 2007 to engage the pre-workforce youths aged 12 – 21 years old, the Labour Movement now expands its efforts to extend its membership and engagement to active agers under U Live and even uniformed personnel and housewives. NTUC believes that the joining or rejoining of the workforce can be made seamless through the communities and with meaningful engagement with members through work, live and play initiatives
NTUC members who are 55 years old and above are qualified to join the U Live community at no additional fee and will receive by post, their new Uplus card and/or their U Live sticker. For those who are non-NTUC members but are keen to join U Live, they are welcome to log on to the U Live website at www.ulive.sg for the application form and details.
