By Ramesh Subbaraman
It is timely for Singapore’s Labour Movement to examine its objectives so as to keep pace with new and emerging trends in the workforce. This is so that NTUC does not become a “limited” Labour Movement.
Making the point at the Pioneering the Future Series Forum organised by the EDB Society and The Straits Times on 26 February 2016 was NTUC Secretary General Chan Chun Sing who was a guest at the event.
The discussion was led by Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say, Immediate Past President of the Singapore National Employers Federation Stephen Lee and the first Chairman of the National Wages Council Professor Lim Chong Yah.
Caring For All
SG Chan said it was timely to pave the way for a “new Labour Movement”.
He explained: “The union is but one mechanism that the Labour Movement uses to take care of the many workers in Singapore. We have to challenge ourselves as to how do we take care of the new generation of workers who may not be in the big companies or blue collared jobs or (those) who may not even be under the ’contract of service’.”
To do this, the Labour Movement will focus on three key areas, said SG Chan.
First, it will continue to have the union mechanism with 60 of them currently affiliated to the NTUC.
Next, there is the U Associate Programme where the professional guilds have been roped in. By the end of March, 30 such organisations would have come on board.
The new task ahead would be to target employers and human resource officials of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), who can help reach out to their workers who form 70 per cent of the workforce.
Progressive Wage Model
Also highlighted at the session was the Labour Movement’s Progressive Wage Model (PWM) which has been mandated in the cleaning sector and will be licensing requirement in the security and landscape sectors by the end of the year. In total, PWM looks set to , benefit close to 80,000 workers.
Minister Lim Swee Say revealed that the tripartite committees are currently looking at ways to refine the wage ladders for these three sectors.
Source: NTUC This Week
