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Mr Speaker, I stand in support of the Budget, which seeks to chart Singapore’s path forward in a new era.
My speech will touch on how we need to strengthen our social compact for a post-COVID world. Specifically, how consumers will need to adapt to a new era of higher for longer inflation to better protect themselves, and the need to urgently refresh our social compact to engender a safer workplace for every worker.
Managing cost of living
Sir, let me first declare my interest as President of the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE).
Budget 2023 comes on the back of significant global inflationary pressures, and at a time where central banks globally have significantly hiked up interest rates to tamper inflation.
I am therefore heartened that the Government has recognised inflation concerns and will provide significant cash assistance under the Assurance Package, to provide comprehensive help to the majority of Singaporean households. During my house visits over the weekend, many residents told me that they appreciated the various help packages, in particular the CDC vouchers which come in very handy as they purchase their daily necessities in the neighbourhood.
Enhancing Price Kaki and Fuel Kaki
At CASE, we believe more can be done to help consumers make informed purchasing decisions. That is why we launched the Price Kaki mobile application, to allow consumers to compare prices of household essentials, groceries, and cooked food, and stretch their dollar.
I am glad that Price Kaki has been well received by consumers. Since its launch, the app has been downloaded more than 130,000 times. With our sizeable community of price transparency advocates, CASE will expand Price Kaki this year – by introducing community and gamification features – to benefit more consumers. Through these features, we hope to encourage our advocates to share deals with other likeminded users and help them compare prices across a wider range of products and promotions.
We will also integrate Fuel Kaki, a fuel price comparison website, into Price Kaki. This is but a first step in Price Kaki’s evolution into a one-stop platform for all consumers.
Mandatory Unit Pricing
To combat and mitigate the issue of shrinkflation, I announced last year that CASE would display unit price for items listed on Price Kaki. Today, we have unit pricing displayed on over 1,200 items, including groceries and beauty products.
Consumers have told us that this is an effective way to compare prices and found this feature useful. I am happy to announce that CASE will expand unit pricing to more than 6,000 items on Price Kaki by the third quarter this year.
But the efforts of CASE alone cannot stop shrinkflation. I call on the Government to mandate the display of unit pricing. With digital price tag displays, I do not see a reason why companies, particularly our supermarkets, cannot do this.
Queen Bees lead the way, but the rest must follow
In my Budget Debate speech last year, I called on major supermarket chains to do their part to cushion the impact of rising prices and support everyday consumers.
I am heartened that these major supermarket chains have leaned in to do just that. Last year, NTUC FairPrice provided customers with more than $11.5 million in savings through various discount schemes. FairPrice will extend these schemes for 2023 – which is expected to cost the social enterprise an additional $10 million more. FairPrice is also absorbing the additional 1% increase in GST for 500 essential items for the first half of 2023.
Elsewhere, Sheng Siong provided a 4% discount for Senior Citizens, while Giant is absorbing the GST increase for 700 essential items.
Beyond supermarkets, DBS has also launched an initiative to subsidise 5 million hawker meals for Singaporeans and residents for a year.
Sir, I applaud the actions of these big “Queen Bee” companies – and I am certain that there are numerous more – and I encourage all companies with economies of scale to do the same in the coming months.
Helping consumers adapt to a new era of high interest rates
Lastly, we need to pay special attention to vulnerable consumers who might be struggling to adapt to a new era of high interest rates.
Our sandwiched class often face a financial squeeze due to the need to care for their elderly parents and younger children. According to a report on the auctions market by real estate consultancy Knight Frank, more homes in Singapore could be put up for auction this year, as the number of bankruptcy petitions rise. I would like to ask, how does the Government intend to support the sandwiched class, many of whom had bought their homes in a “dream scenario” of low interest rates, but will now be required to refinance in a high interest rate “nightmare”?
We also need to address the vulnerabilities of consumers in markets where high prepayment sums are involved, but the sector does not provide any prepayment protection. I will speak more about mandatory prepayment protection during MTI’s COS debate.
Strengthening our social compact on a safer workplace
Mr Speaker, in addition to refreshing our social compact to adjust to a higher for longer inflationary environment, we urgently need to review and strengthen our compact on what a safe workplace means.
Every worker deserves to return home safely from work
Sir, I am dismayed at the current poor workplace safety outcomes, despite the many interventions in the past two years. Last year, a total of 46 workers did not make it home after work. This is a significant increase from 37 workplace fatalities recorded in 2021. Even more appalling was the news that many of the lives lost were due to a fundamental lack or inadequate workplace safety arrangements that could have, and should have, been in place.
In September 2022, the MOM introduced the Heightened Safety Period (HSP). In the initial three months of its implementation, we saw a promising decrease in the number of workplace fatalities. The Labour Movement had hoped that the HSP had proven decisive in preventing workplace accidents, injuries, and fatalities. Unfortunately, this has proven to be a false dawn, with the number of cases rising once again in the later months.
We are barely two months into 2023, and we have already recorded five fatalities at the workplace. This is simply unacceptable.
Could it be that companies had become complacent, with the HSP’s end within sight? While I am heartened that the HSP has been extended for another three months, I would like to urge the Government to seriously consider making permanent some of the HSP requirements, such as higher penalties for workplace safety and health (WSH) breaches, so that we send a strong message that every worker deserves to return home safely at the end of each workday.
Sir, the NTUC and our affiliated unions have been stepping up efforts to enhance safety standards at the workplace. We have trained more than 1,000 union leaders as safety ambassadors. We have also worked with our unionised companies, through the Company Training Committees, to redesign jobs and to redesign the work environment to improve workplace safety.
One example is the sectoral tripartite committee on rail safety comprising the National Transport Workers’ Union, the Land Transport Authority and our two rail operators. If we compare the data from January to June 2022 versus the same period in 2021, the number of workplace injuries for rail operations fell by almost 30%.
Sir, the majority of our workplace accidents involved SMEs, and more than four in five workplace fatalities recorded in 2022 involved non-unionised companies. I would like to call on all companies, regardless of size, to work with NTUC and our unions to improve safety standards at your workplace. I would also like to reiterate my call on the Government to provide greater support to our SMEs to adopt new safety technologies at the workplace. I will speak more about this at MOM’s COS debate.
Beyond the dangers at the workplace, I have also raised numerous times, in and outside of this House, on the importance of ensuring the safety of our workers’ transportation. I strongly urge the Government to end the practice of allowing workers to co-mingle with goods and heavy equipment at the rear deck of lorries. Man and machine simply do not mix and should not be placed together especially at the rear deck of the lorries. I will further elaborate this point during MOT’s COS debate.
Every worker deserves a right to disconnect from work
Sir, physical safety is but one measure of a worker’s total workplace safety and health. A more comprehensive social compact on providing a safe workplace need to also incorporate mental health.
I first spoke about the need to give employees a right to disconnect from work in July 2020. The MOM, together with NTUC and the Singapore National Employers Federation, subsequently published the Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-being at the Workplace in November 2020, which included recommendations on after-hours work communication. Almost a year later, in September 2021, the Alliance for Action on Work-life Harmony issued a policy template to help companies set clearer boundaries for after-hours work communication. But how many companies have actually adopted these recommendations? Are company leaders simply paying lip service to disconnecting after work, but continue to expect their employees to respond anytime and anywhere? I will speak more about this during MOM’s COS debate.
Conclusion
Sir, Budget 2023 helps Singapore chart the way forward in the post-COVID-19 era. As the Government does its utmost best to help Singapore and Singaporeans navigate an increasingly complex global environment, I hope that more emphasis can be placed on strengthening our social compact to better protect consumers and workers. Because #EveryConsumerMatters and #EveryWorkerMatters.
Sir, I support the Budget.
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