Wage guidelines reflects Labour Movement call to Value every Worker
The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) fully supports the fair recommendations in the National Wages Council’s (NWC) guidelines for 2013-2014 in view of Singapore’s current thrusts in economic transition and inclusive growth.
Higher wage for low-waged workers
We are heartened by the NWC’s endorsements of NTUC’s call to improve skills, productivity, job prospects and income of workers through the Progressive Wage Model (PWM). Applicable to low-wage workers as well as all workers including professionals, managers and executives (PMEs), we believe PWMs will result in a triple win outcome:
(1) better skilled workers with clear career progression opportunities and higher wages;
(2) more profitable businesses with more productive workers and enhanced competitiveness and;
(3) a more vibrant and sustainable economy with an uplifted national productivity level and increased investments
Low-wage workers remain a focus for the Labour Movement. We are, therefore, happy that the NWC has accepted NTUC’s call to grant low-wage workers a built-in wage increase in the form of a dollar quantum and a percentage, and an additional one-off lump sum payment to help workers get a proportionately higher built-in wage increase to better cope with the cost of living.
We are encouraged by the strong support for last year’s NWC guidelines for workers earning less than $1,000. Within unionised companies and NTUC Social Enterprises, the adoption rates were 80% and 100% respectively. While we are heartened by their response and remain optimistic about their uptake for this year’s guidelines, we are very concerned with the low adoption rate among non-unionised companies. We will continue to push for positive change and lead by example through our unionised companies. The Labour Movement, therefore, strongly calls for companies to pay greater attention to improving wages for low- wage workers, in particular workers who still earn less than $1,000.
Valuing Every Worker: Make Jobs Easier, Smarter & Safer + Share Gains
In light of today’s tight labour market and challenging business conditions, the Labour Movement also urges employers to tap on the Quality Growth Programme, specifically the Productivity and Innovation Credit bonuses, the Wage Credit Scheme and the Inclusive Growth programme, to overcome the shortage of manpower. Embarking on these programmes will allow companies to continue to equip their workers with multiple, and more developed skills, and to invest in technology and improvements to make jobs easier, smarter and safer.
Most importantly, we urge businesses to share productivity gains with employees. It is critical that labour productivity increases and wage increases go hand-in-hand.
We also urge employers to recognise that these inclusive wage guidelines should be applied to all groups of workers including re-employed workers.
We want our workers to enjoy good wage increases and have good jobs. We will rally the support of our workers to work closely with companies to raise our competencies and competitiveness. Together, we can strive for better jobs, better pay and better work-life balance in our globally competitive economy.
Cham Hui Fong
Assistant Secretary-General
National Trades Union Congress
