Debate Speech on Budget Statement 2023 by Abdul Samad Abdul Wahab, Vice-President, NTUC; Nominated MP on 23 February 2023

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Introduction

 

Sir, on behalf of my fellow union leaders, members and working people, I would like to express our appreciation for the various support measures – from mitigating rising cost of living through the Assurance Package, supporting housing aspirations, and my personal favourite item, piloting the Jobs-Skills Integrators. This would certainly make training more meaningful for both workers and employers.

 

The enhancements to the existing schemes reflect the Government’s continuous commitment to support Singaporeans. Take for example, the $300 CDC vouchers can now be used at participating supermarkets in addition to heartland merchants and hawkers. This is over and above what we have received recently. As the sole breadwinner of my family with 3 children over 20 years, I have always unknowingly been receiving various forms of support ranging from subsidised school fees for my children, U-Save rebates and many more. Nonetheless, the Budget is not a ‘one size fits all’ and there will always be voices of unhappiness and complaints that the amount of support is not enough. Regardless, I’ve picked up this catchy phrase from my fellow technical officer – Life Goes On!

 

Sir, the focus areas in my last two Budget debates were about strengthening our Singaporean workforce and providing support for the middle-income group.

 

Today, I will reiterate on the former with a focus on desired outcomes for workers. But before that, I would like to give special mention to a group of fellow Singaporeans who sacrifice their personal time and commitments to be the heart of the Labour Movement by serving working people at workplaces. I will share more about their selfless contributions shortly.

 

Sir, prior to who I am today, I admit that I belonged to the group of Singaporeans that always complained, that the Government was not providing sufficient support for our citizens especially the middle-income group. As cliché as it sounds, all changed in 2004 when I had an exchange with my colleague on income tax matters. I was unaware that I could offset my income tax payment with the Parenthood Tax rebates. After writing to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) to seek clarification and further advice, I was shocked and beyond overjoyed to see that previous payments for my income tax were credited back to my bank account within a month. Since then, I started to acknowledge and appreciate more, as the Government does support fellow Singaporeans in a fair and responsible manner. Curiosity got the better of me and the rest is history as I stepped into the shoes of a Union leader, to be an advocate and voice for all workers, representing their interests in the areas of wages, welfare, and work prospects. Since then, it has been an enriching and fulfilling journey, and I have not looked back.

 

The group of people that I would like to give special mention to is none other than my fellow Unionists. Many take this group for granted and often overlook their contributions. Unions are one part of what we call Tripartism. This model is unique only to Singapore due to the strong collaboration between all three parties – Unions, government and employers – to achieve a common outcome of harmonious labour-management relations resulting in better wages, welfare and work prospects for Singaporeans. I have had the privilege to get to know and work alongside many senior leaders in my short span of 16 years as a Unionist to ensure that our members in the represented group of companies are rewarded fairly and well taken care of. Like myself, this group of people are not chosen by management. Rather, we made the conscious choice to volunteer or being volunteered by fellow workers, to be their voices at the workplace. Unionists are ever ready to represent their members in any instances of workplace grievances or issues relating to unfair practices. Cases are primarily settled amicably with management partners at the earliest possible moment. However, when the situation warrants, cases will then be escalated to either the Ministry of Manpower or the Industrial Arbitration Court. With the presence of Union leaders, I can attest and assure that such cases are few and far between.

 

At this juncture, I would like to call on Members of Parliament who are advisors to our Unions to consistently engage with them so as to hear, understand and feel first-hand the challenges faced by my fellow Union leaders, especially when dealing with unsupportive and stubborn management partners. I strongly believe that you can value-add to the respective Unions. I say this with the benefit of hindsight when I presented a case to our advisor and he exerted his influence over the management partners, hence ensuring that our workers were treated with dignity. This particular MP has since retired, but I will never forget his commitment to be by the side of the Union leaders when we needed him most. This is just one of the few incidents that I have personally experienced. I also believe many other Union leaders have had similar experiences like me. I call upon on workers to reach out to your Union leaders, join the Union, be part of this family of Labour Movement as we will always be alongside you because for us Members First, Workers Always. 

 

Sir, our recent battle against Covid is not just about purely saving lives. It is also about ensuring that the livelihoods and dignity of our fellow Singaporeans are protected and being ready to step forward quickly to help workers when they face any issues or unfair practices at the workplace. One such example that I would like to highlight is the unfair retrenchment exercise carried out by Eagle Services Asia in July 2020. Our Union leaders from the aerospace and aviation industry conducted a secret ballot swiftly to sanction legal industrial action against the company. Another example is concerning our security officers, whom were often subjected to verbal and physical abuse. Our leaders from the Union of Security Employees (USE) played a very active role to step in whenever they heard of such cases, and ensure the perpetrators are dealt with the respective authorities. Many of us remember recent cases such as the one where a luxury car driver had injured a security officer stationed at a primary school, and another, where a security officer was assaulted in a lift at a condominium located in Bukit Batok. For these two cases, USE made their presence felt and extended support for the affected officers even by helping to lodge police reports. We are grateful that the perpetrators for these cases have since been charged in court. These are just few examples of our Unions in Action!

 

Besides standing up for the rights of our workers, how many of us can recall when NTUC volunteered to administer the Self-Employed Persons Income Relief Scheme for Self Employed Personnel, in short SEP, where eligible individuals received a total of S$9000 from the Government. Many of NTUC-ARU staff and industrial relations officers were activated and mobilised to man the centres at Devan Nair Institute, One Marina Boulevard and Downtown East to assist our SEP in their claim submissions while in need. Also let’s not forget our social enterprise NTUC Club which supported our nation through the COVID-19 crisis, practically housed our affected Covid patients. 

 

Sir, we must not take the peace and harmony in the employment front for granted. It took years of painful lessons to achieve what we have today. On this note, I want to record my appreciation for all my Union leaders for all your hard work at the workplace. Concurrently, I encourage all management partners to increase your appreciation for our Union leaders in your company and industry. The peaceful and harmonious industrial relations that we experience today did not happen by chance, but only through the efforts, and sacrifices of our union leaders. Not forgetting also, I would like to thank the NTUC staff for their tireless support and efforts in going the extra mile to support the administration for the SIRS schemes and other schemes that NTUC rolls out for members and workers.

 

While there is no doubt that NTUC and our unions have been the voice of workers, we will not and never rest on our laurels. We recognise the need for continuous training and upskilling of our workers, so that they will be skilled, efficient, and productive contributors to Singapore. 

 

Sir, training is fundamental for every worker to learn, unlearn and relearn skills that add value to them as individual and for their employers. Under the guidance of our Secretary-General Brother Ng Chee Meng, we envision the model, Worker 4.0. This model targets the training needs of every worker based on 3 broad areas, namely, Adaptability, Technological and Training. With our workers attending the relevant training lessons and applying their new skill sets, we hope to achieve the WINs for our workers; and also strive for better Wages, Welfare and Work Prospects. To achieve this mission, NTUC embarks on what we called the Company Training Committees. This training is not just business as usual, but new skills to transform the workforce to meet the new business demands.

 

The recently announced Jobs Skills Integrators model is one that I really welcome and wholeheartedly support. It requires an intermediary body like NTUC to ensure that training benefits both workers and employers. After our workers attend the training, we hope and strive that workers will progressively achieve the 3Ws, while employers get better skilled workers. This would also make training more meaningful and not just clocking hours and collecting allowances. Hence, I remind myself and call on fellow workers to learn, unlearn and relearn skills to broaden your knowledge that will increase your value at current workplace. Don’t miss out to seize any opportunities for growth and self-improvement that come with better pay and work prospects.

 

(In Malay)

 

Belanjawan tahun ini melambangkan janji pemerintah untuk membantu rakyat Singapura dalam mengatasi kos sara hidup, membina keluarga, memperkasakan pekerja Singapura, dan paling penting sekali, untuk membawa semua rakyat Singapura melangkah ke arah baharu.

 

Bantuan tahun ini amat unik sebab pemerintah fokus kepada usaha meluaskan lagi sokongan tersedia ada dengan menambahkan nilainya secara berpatutan. Malah pemerintah juga berjanji akan terus memantau keadaan ekonomi serta rakyat dan tidak akan keberatan untuk mengeluarkan lagi bantuan sekiranya keadaan memerlukan. Ini dapat dilihat pada tahun lalu apabila penambahan bantuan diberikan kepada rakyat dalam Pakej Jaminan.

 

Namun kita harus akur akan cabaran yang akan dihadapi rakyat Singapura yang bekerja dalam industri platform yang perlu menyumbang pada CPF. Ini adalah langkah yang bertanggungjawab demi memastikan pekerja-pekerja sedemikian mempunyai wang simpanan secukupnya untuk memiliki rumah dan menjamin persaraan mereka nanti. Janganlah kita pandang langkah ini sebagai satu penyekatan ke atas mata pencarian harian. Sebaliknya, ia merupakan satu tindakan yang bertanggungjawab di pihak pemerintah. Ramai di kalangan masyarakat kita, saya percaya, mempunyai kelayakan dan keupayaan yang membolehkan mereka mendapat pekerjaan yang tetap. Andai kata ia tidak begitu, kita harus meningkatkan lagi usaha untuk meningkatkan kemahiran demi meraih peluang pekerjaan tetap yang tersedia ada. Terdapat banyak sekali skim bantuan pemerintah yang membolehkan anda menjalani latihan meraih kemahiran yang diperlukan untuk anda meraih peluang pekerjaan yang tersedia.
 

 

Bagi rakyat Singapura yang baru mendirikan rumahtangga dan berhasrat untuk membina keluarga, terdapat banyak sekali skim bantuan yang tersedia dan juga ditambah nilainya dalam Belanjawan yang terbaru ini. Saya ingin mengingatkan anda semua bahawa keperluan membina keluarga memang mencukupi dan anda tidak harus bimbang. Secara peribadi, saya mempunyai kenalan yang hanya seorang penghantar surat dan pegawai teknikal, tetapi berupaya membina keluarga seramai 6 hingga 12 orang anak, masih satu lagi isteri, dan  tinggal di perumahan HDB. Ini kerana bantuan pemerintah mencukupi untuk memastikan setiap anak mendapat bantuan yang diperlukan dari kecil sehinggalah tamat sekolah di peringkat tinggi. Yakinlah bahawa setiap anak itu adalah rezeki. Jangan henti pada 2 anak sahaja. Kalau boleh sekurang-kurangnya biarlah 3. Lebih ramai lebih meriah, dan Singapura tak perlu bersusah payah untuk mencari bakat dari luar di masa hadapan.