The lush greenery at Sennett Estate is part of what lends it its serene charm. Hard at work maintaining the grounds are daily-rated employees (DREs). One of them is 57-year-old Suaidi Mohamed Parik, a father of three and an Environment Support Assistant (ESA) at the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) Department of Public Cleanliness.
Mr Suaidi cycles to get to work by 6.30am every day. Armed with a broom and a dustpan, he picks up litter and sweeps the roads, footpaths, and turf areas in the south-eastern region of Singapore. For his work, he earns about S$1,160 a month.
“I started with little education, and I was thinking that this was the highest pay I would ever get,” he said.
But he was pleasantly surprised in February 2014. Working together with Amalgamated Union of Public Daily Rated Workers (AUPDRW), NEA implemented the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) for its workers like Mr Suaidi.
Mr Suaidi attended the Workforce Skills Qualifications System for Environmental Cleaning (WSQ EC) Framework where he was trained to operate the handheld leaf blower and the Billy Goat, an industrial outdoor vacuum. These new skills helped him to do his job Easier, Smarter and Safer.
Today, Mr Suaidi earns about S$1,400. He is also more productive at work.
“Previously, I had to manually sweep with the broom and dustpan which was quite tiring. With machines, I can cover a wider area over a shorter time span especially during the dry season when there is a lot more leaf litter.
“In fact, I now take only one hour to clean up the same area that took up two hours of my time before,” he shared.
The starting salaries under the PWM are S$1,200 for outdoor Environment Support Assistants (ESAs), S$1,400 for ESAs who operate machinery, and S$1,600 for supervisors.
In addition, the union has been encouraging workers to attend the training courses.
Said AUPDRW General Secretary, G Muthukumarasamy, “This was a good opportunity for them to level up and enjoy a higher pay. So, we walked the ground and made sure they knew that this would better their career progression.”
“With the different levels of progression clearly articulated, our ESAs can strive to upgrade themselves through training and take on bigger job responsibilities, in order to progress to a higher salary tier,” added Director of Human Resource Division, NEA, Gloria Chin
Progressive Wage Model Impact
| Before | After |
| Monthly Salary of Environment Support Assistants – $1,160 |
Monthly Salary of ESA machine operators – $1,400 20% Pay Rise |
| Low skills |
Workforce Skills Qualifications System for Environmental Cleaning Learnt New Skill |
| 2 hours to sweep a stretch of area |
1 hour to sweep same stretch of area with machines 50% Better Productivity |
Original article written by Naseema Banu Maideen, and can be found in NTUC This Week (29 June 2014)
