Champion active ageing and lifelong care for our seniors

More to be done for older workers in areas of health, work and play

At the recent Budget 2013 parliamentary debate, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Deputy Secretary-General, Mr Heng Chee How pressed the momentum to “Value Every Older Worker”. As Singapore faces an ageing workforce, NTUC has drove national initiatives to enable older workers to continue contributing actively and being gainfully employed. For example, NTUC is urging for tripartite discussions to consider how soon and how best to further extend the Re-employment age band from the current age band - (62 to 65) to (62 to 67), as well as calling for more policy and funding support toward workplace healthcare cost-sharing and insurance. In addition, NTUC together with the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) will manage and administer the WorkPro programme to encourage more seniors to return to the workforce.

To re-affirm the Labour Movement’s commitment towards their welfare, older workers can now look forward to more rebates and medical benefits catering to their needs through their golden years, as well as strong support at the workplace and in active ageing.

To reward our members for their tenure, members of participating unions who are 65 years and above, with the appropriate length of tenure can enjoy up to 6 months’ rebates on their fees. The programme will be recurring for members who qualify every year. NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Heng Chee How announced that this pilot initiative - U65+ Programme, has seen over 7,000 members from 26 unions qualifying for membership fee rebates as of April 2013. Over 4,000 members received the rebates this year and another 3,000 members will receive theirs by January 2014. (Annex A)

To highlight NTUC’s suite of initiatives for older workers relating to health, work and play, NTUC’s U Live@Work community and Membership Department, organised a morning of fun-filled activities and experts’ advice on healthcare and workplace issues for over 200 senior members at the Resorts World Sentosa on 13 April 2013. Participants can look forward to the activities below:

With healthcare quality and costs close to their hearts, premium healthcare provider Parkway Shenton will give a presentation and provide special health and wellness package rates for them.

On the workplace aspect, to better our older workers’ understanding of WorkPro, NTUC will organise a presentation at the event on the increased support from tripartite partners in ensuring that they receive fair treatment and recognition in the workforce. For example, companies will now have added incentives to enable older workers to continue in active and meaningful employment.

To ensure that older workers are actively engaged beyond the workplace, Senior union members aged 55 and above are automatically a part of NTUC’s U Live community, which will showcase their initiatives at the event. U Live has helped over 130,000 active agers lead a ‘Happy, Healthy, Productive and Purposeful’ (H2P2) lifestyle with more than 250 activities organised each year. With an emphasis on healthy ageing and active living, the community has a wide variety of interest groups and social events customised for older members. These range from major events like the annual U Live Symposium to more targeted interest group activities (like brisk walking, photography, etc), all of which cater to the diverse interests of its members.

“Ever since I joined U Live, I’ve had the opportunity to fill my days with activities that allowed me to make new friends and stay active. I even get a chance to mentor other seniors in a sport that I love – golf! Now, I look forward to U Live events where I can share my knowledge with my peers and help them to lead productive and purposeful lives,” said 68-year old Mr Smiley Goh.

NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Heng Chee How said, “We want our seniors to be well and to enjoy their golden years. Mature workers have much experience and knowledge to contribute to their companies.  Hence, the Labour Movement will actively advocate for improvements to the work, live and play dimensions of our seniors’ well-being.  We will work closely with our tripartite partners to realise these improvements."

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Annex A

U65+ PROGRAMME

 FACT SHEET

1. The U65+ programme is a pilot initiative based on age & tenure to reward & recognize our loyal members who are now 65 years old and above.
2. This scheme is for members of participating unions, who are 65 years and above, with the appropriate length of membership tenure.
3. Members need to fulfil THREE requirements for eligibility:
4. Their Union is on-board U65+ programme;
5. Members themselves must have reached the age of 65 and above;
6. Members must have membership tenure of 10 or more years.
7. The U65+ programme was officially announced to the public on 29^th August 2012, following the endorsement by NTUC Central Committee. The programme went ‘Live’ in Oct 2012 with members from participating unions began accumulating the rebates from 1^st Oct 2012 and receiving their first pro-rated rebate in January 2013. Moving forward, the calculation of rebates will be for the period of January to December every year.
8. The tenure-based rebates are as follows:

Unions choose to administer rebates to members through 1 out of 3 of the following methods:

1. LinkPoints
2. GIRO to members’ accounts
3. Cash / Voucher

The members are notified of their eligibility for the rebate scheme by the participating unions through letter or phone. They will receive brochures highlighting Membership benefits relevant to members who are 65 years and above.