Debate Speech on President’s Address by Patrick Tay, Assistant Secretary-General, NTUC and Member of Parliament for Pioneer SMC on 31 August 2020

That the following Address in reply to the Speech of the President be agreed to: - 

"We, the Parliament of the Republic of Singapore, express our thanks to the President for the Speech which she delivered on behalf of the Government at the Opening of the First Session of this Parliament."

I thank the President for highlighting in her speech the need to address the potentially divisive issue of competition for jobs from work pass holders, and that we will work to further strengthen the capabilities of our workforce in every field and ensure that firms treat Singaporeans fairly when they recruit or retrench workers.

In her words: “In all that we do, the interests of Singaporeans are always paramount.” 

Protecting our Singaporean PMEs

Strengthening the Singaporean Core is an important tenet in nation-building. It is important during good times when our economy is growing rapidly and doubly important during bad times such as during this recession where we see numerous layoffs and where many Singaporeans, especially Professionals Managers and Executives (PMEs), are impacted.

Over the past few decades, our economy has grown from third world to first world. Accordingly, the expansion of business needs has generated demand for workers with specialised skills such as cyber security and artificial intelligence. As Singaporeans may require time to be trained with the relevant skills, we should not close our doors, but instead, complement our local workforce with specific-skilled foreign PMEs to maintain Singapore’s economic competitiveness.

In fact, the COVID-19 crisis has shed light on certain critical sectors, which could be the forerunners in calibrating our nation’s reliance on foreign PMEs. For example, the development of rapid virus test-kits is testament to the complementarity between local and foreign expertise in the biomedical sector.  

Sir, the disruption brought about by COVID-19 and the resulting economic recession has surfaced ground concerns on the increased competition for jobs and employment. In this regard, we must uphold our pillar of meritocracy. There must be fairness and equal treatment and assessment of workers, which is also a fundamental International Labour Organisation commitment.  

However, PMEs I have spoken to say that this is not their universal experience.  At least 20 PMEs have written to me in the past month, sharing with me their loss of opportunities at taking on jobs and at our workplaces, to the extent of feeling somewhat discriminated against. I cannot help but wonder if, as a result of unchecked conscious and unconscious bias, there may still be instances of nationality bias in hiring and promotion and in today’s context, retrenchments? The reality is, left unchecked, this would exacerbate the glass-ceiling effect and issues relating to job opportunity for our Singaporean PMEs.  

In that same vein, I welcome the policy announcements last Thursday by the Ministry of Manpower in (i) adjusting the Employment Pass (EP) and S Pass qualifying salaries, (ii) imposing new Fair Consideration Framework Requirements, and (iii) applying greater scrutiny on EP and S Pass applicants.  This will go some way in levelling the playing field for our Singaporean PMEs and providing our Singaporean PMEs fair hiring opportunities.

I am equally glad that Minister Chan Chun Sing, in his capacity as Minister of Trade and Industry, has emphasised – over the weekend – three very important points.  First, there must be fairness and zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind and tough action has to be taken on firms with hiring bias.  Second, the importance of diversity and inclusion, something that I submit is crucial for a developed country and democracy like ours. Third, the efforts of localisation by transferring of skills to develop a pipeline of local talent.

Strengthening the Singaporean Core

I therefore submit that Strengthening our Singaporean Core requires a two-fold approach: First, the hiring of foreign PMEs must be based on merit – on their contribution to Singapore and how they complement our local workforce; Second, we must equip and enable our local workers through relevant and timely reskilling and upskilling, to help them remain gainfully employed and employable.

To augment our efforts to further strengthen the Singaporean Core, I have five suggestions: 

1. Ensuring Singaporean PMETs are not left behind by the raising of EP and S Pass qualifying salaries

   Raising the salary criteria for EP and S Pass is timely. Although the EP salary minimum was just raised in May 2020, I am heartened that MOM has raised the qualifying salaries of both Employment Pass and S Pass holders to further level the playing field for our Singaporean PMETs.

   While we raise the qualifying salary of EP holders, I am glad that MOM has put in a place a differentiation of the EP qualifying salaries for sectors such as the financial services sector.  In the same vein, MOM should also consider raising the bar for sectors such as Infocomm Technology and Professional Services, where there are generally more companies on the Fair Consideration Framework watchlist.

    

   Since  the announcement of these changes last Thursday, union leaders and PMEs I have spoken to have raised concerns that employers would merely raise the salaries or repackage the compensation and benefits of their foreign PMETs, to keep within the boundaries of the rules and retain them – something that is easily done in sectors which traditionally have higher-earning EP holders. To compound matters further, our Singaporean PMETs working alongside these foreign PMETs performing similar or same jobs may not get a similar pay hike, thereby resulting in serious parity issues.  It does not help that many of our Singaporean PMETs are now confronted with wage freezes, restraints, and cuts.

    

   For unionised companies, our unions will closely watch the actions of employers.  For workers in non-unionised companies, I strongly urge them to join as union members and organise themselves, so that we can protect them and ensure that they are fairly treated. 

2. Strengthening the Singapore Core at ALL Levels through strengthening hiring culture, practices and changing mindsets

   Strengthening the Singaporean Core of PMETs must be at all levels of the hierarchy and not merely addressing entry or lower level PMETs. In large corporations with deep pockets, hiring more Singaporeans at the bottom balloons the denominator to make them look less culpable in actual percentages and numbers.  Our efforts must be to address this at all levels and have a tiered approach in our policies and laws, according to different sectors’ needs and circumstances. While we introduce new policies to further tighten the various levers, strengthening the hiring culture, practices and changing mindsets across the various organisations which hire foreign PMEs must be at the backbone of these efforts. HR leaders I speak to say they may be supportive of the Singaporean Core but in some cases, the hiring managers may have the final say in the eventual choice of the candidate. In many of these organisations, complex reporting structures and matrix reporting mean that the HR sometimes have little or no say. In short, it is imperative for not just a change of mindset for the CEO or CHRO, but also the mindsets of hiring managers and everyone from end to end in the value chain that are involved in the various HR processes.  
    
   While foreign PMEs are employed in Singapore, there needs to be more intentional reciprocity by multi-national corporations to offer similar regional and global opportunities to our Singaporean PMEs. In this way, our Singaporean PMEs will be able to gain international experience and in turn, add to the calibre of our Singaporean workforce. I urge the management within Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) to groom our Singaporean PMEs as part of their leadership identification and developmental process. By the same token, our Singaporean PMEs must step up, step forward and readily accept these opportunities to take lead and uproot to remote parts of the globe for regional and international exposure and opportunities.  Increasingly, all Singaporean PMEs must embrace overseas opportunities as possible opportunities and be open to them regardless of where they are at, in their career life-stage.

3. Augmenting the Fair Consideration Framework 
    
   I am glad that MOM has heeded my call to enhance the FCF to include S Pass and doubled the duration of the mandatory job advertisement. I am encouraged to also see MOM and TAFEP taking firm action against companies who treat the FCF as mere window dressing. However, more needs to be done to review the current exemptions of the FCF.  
    
   On the intra-corporate transfers (ICTs) exemption, I take cognizance that ICTs make up less than five per cent of EPs in Singapore and that this exemption is necessary in view of our obligations vis-à-vis our Free Trade Agreements’ obligations.  However, I urge for more transparency on who are these PMEs who fall within this ICT exemption for greater transparency and accountability.  
    
   I particularly like the fact that MOM through its FCF website encourages all employers, even if they fall within the exemptions, to post their job advertisements on the national jobs portal.  I am not sure if this moral suasion approach has paid off, but it is certainly the right way to go for companies who fall within the size of company and salary point exemptions to the FCF.

4. Strengthening enforcement against Triple Weak companies
    
   We can further safeguard the  Singaporean Core  through stricter enforcement against companies that treat the Fair Consideration Framework as mere window dressing or who continue to be ‘triple weak’ – in other words, companies with highly disproportionate number of foreign PMEs, weak commitment to nurture and strengthen Singaporean Core, and weak relevance to Singapore’s economy and society.
    
   Besides administrative and penal sanctions that are already in place and can be enhanced, enforcement can come in the form of revealing or publishing the ‘triple weak’ watchlist which MOM and TAFEP maintains, so that the potential reputational loss would serve as a deterrence.  As a pilot, this can be applied to companies that remain on the watchlist after a period of time (such as one year) and have failed to improve or show concerted efforts to strengthen the Singaporean Core.
    
   Similarly, we can also impose mandatory audits and penalties such as removing preferential tax and other benefits including curtailment of the award of public sector contracts on companies with discriminatory hiring practices and high proportion of grievance cases if no improvement is made within a stipulated period of time.
    
   Many of our economic incentives appear to be granted based on total headcount created in Singapore, with little mention of support for proactive and sustained local hiring. Likewise, there should be proactive and sustained knowledge and skills transfer to Singaporeans by the foreign PMEs.  A structured mentoring must be put in place to ensure that skills are transferred from foreign PMEs to our local PMEs. Potential abuse can arise without a tiered approach (for e.g. economic incentives to expire without more senior Singaporean PME hires within a certain period of time or when there is a failure to transfer skills and knowledge).
    
   Though a very sharp tool, MOM should review if there is a need to legislate areas of the FCF, including providing TAFEP with more legal powers. Pure frameworks, perhaps developed with a fear of losing investments and over-regulation, provide an environment ripe for corporations to circumvent rules. We need to re-consider the long-held notion of being regarded as “not investment friendly” with legislation. The world has moved on to embrace sustainability and related environmental, social and governance legislation, which encompass fair employment. Similarly, Fair employment legislation has not stopped the likes of London and New York from being vibrant financial centres. I submit that we should explore and consider the utility and feasibility of a Fair Employment or Anti-Discrimination legislation in Singapore.

5. Possible tougher measures such as EP Quota 

   With the current added measures and above suggestions, I expect to see an eradication of nationality bias and a shrinking watchlist. Should the above measures still fail and does not bear fruit, the labour movement has previously floated the idea to look at relevant quotas, as a response to possible interventions to curb the problem and also address problem sectors that have a notably higher proportion of foreign PMEs. The quota could have two tiers: the first tier consisting of “higher-skilled PMEs” with significantly higher salaries, and the second tier consisting of “mid-skilled PMEs” who are at the median salary range of the sector or industry. With this two-tier quota, companies will still be able to hire foreign PMEs with specialised skillsets to drive technology-based initiatives.  The implementation of the quota can be gradual to address the concern by companies that our local PMEs do not have the requisite skills and experience. 

Developing a Singaporean Core – Next Steps 

Sir, Singapore is in a unique position. In many areas such as education, logistics, air and sea transport, biomedical, we aspire and peg ourselves to “best in class” standards – researching and understanding what works well for other countries and positioning ourselves as leaders pushing frontiers.  

Indeed, it is imperative to introduce the right policies in the face of an evolving economic and domestic environment. We must be mindful of our uniqueness as a city-state and balance our national interests such as the employability of our workers. Both methodology and technology adopted in Singapore must be contextualised for our local workforce and for different groups of workers in their various areas of work and at their respective pace of digital acceptance. 

The first iteration of the Industry Transformation Maps launched four years ago (in September 2016) articulated these strategies to sustain growth and competitiveness for our industries with a three to five-year horizon. With rapid disruption, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the next normal, I suggest we embark on ITM 2.0; to refresh and relook these strategies so that both workers and companies can transform in tandem to meet the challenges ahead. In that journey, we should evaluate the reasons why Singaporeans are unable to fill these existing and future PMET jobs and roles and develop an action plan that combines both a sectoral and functional approach, to rectify this for the longer term.  

To better enable our local PMEs to take on roles and handle tasks in line with industry transformation, there needs to be continuous reskilling and upskilling and intentional career and salary mapping, through formalised set ups such as NTUC’s Company Training Committees as well as the efforts by the National Jobs Council and NTUC Job Security Council. 

This would help equip our workers to take up roles, especially in industries that have a disproportionate number of foreign PMEs. Such training would be particularly relevant for PMEs in their 40s to 60s, who tend to be more vulnerable and at risk from technological disruption and during economic downturns.

Community, Core, Collaboration will be key

It is time to pivot and supplement our first-class hard infrastructure with an upgraded soft infrastructure. Proper safeguards for our Singaporean PMETs must be put in place to allow our tribe, the Singaporean Core, to flourish and uplift future generations of Singaporeans.

In conclusion, a “Singapore, United as One” requires all who have a stake in Singapore – all of us – to play our part. With our community as the bedrock, strengthening our Singaporean Core, and enhancing collaboration between tripartite partners, academic institutions, society and individuals – each coming together to continue their unique role to Singapore’s success, so that together, we can become more than the sum of our individual parts. 

COVID19 has brought about a great reset and the next normal will forever transform our lives in more ways than one. From the health of our people to the health of work and the economy… in the pursuit of fairness, justice and equality, we will ensure that no man is left behind, so that we can come out of the storm together, stronger than ever.  Thank you.

Mr Speaker Sir, I beg to move. 

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