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The Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU) held an online appreciation ceremony today to honour some 2,000 hospitality workers for taking on essential services roles during the pandemic last year; and the 47 companies and agencies for their efforts in facilitating a smooth deployment of these workers and protecting their jobs. FDAWU Advisor and MP for Holland-Bukit-Timah GRC, Mr Christopher de Souza, Guest-of-Honour for the ceremony, delivered his appreciation address to some 200 workers, management, government, and union representatives online this morning.
Since the start of the Circuit Breaker in April 2020, FDAWU has been working closely with hotels and food retailers to manage excess manpower so that workers would continue to have jobs, and companies would have cost savings to stay afloat. To do so and as part of the National Trades Union Congress’ (NTUC) Job Security Council (JSC)’s efforts, FDAWU worked with companies and agencies to match these workers to temporary roles during the lull period.
With help from FDAWU, 47 companies, mainly hotels with excess manpower were able to deploy their workers to 14 receiving companies and public sector agencies without changes to their original employment. To-date, the NTUC’s JSC has matched more than 32,000 workers to new jobs since its start in February 2020.
The deployed workers from the hotels were placed in essential roles such as Safe Distancing Ambassadors, contact tracers, temperature screeners, warehouse pickers/packers and supermarket retail assistants. FDAWU is, thus, recognising these workers at this appreciation ceremony as they had exhibited the true spirit of hospitality by stepping forward out of their comfort zone to take on the essential worker roles. By doing so, they had also helped their employers save costs to keep the businesses going during the pandemic.
The closure of Singapore’s borders in 2020 had resulted in a severe drop in hotel room occupancy and revenue. Employers in the hospitality industry, in support of NTUC’s push to protect workers’ livelihoods, had engaged FDAWU to tap on the training support available, such as NTUC LearningHub and NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute), and facilitate smooth deployment of workers during the pandemic. This was a win-win arrangement that had helped workers stay in their jobs, while employers get financial relief while charting their course to recovery. The hotels were gradually able to recall their manpower back to their hotel jobs when the staycation demand and Stay Home Notice / Quarantine Orders increased.
FDAWU General Secretary Tan Hock Soon paid tribute to both workers and companies in his opening address at the ceremony, “COVID-19 has profoundly affected many sectors in Singapore, especially the hospitality sector. The pandemic may have lasted longer than we had expected but we have also learnt an important lesson to embrace changes and be flexible so that everyone can overcome the challenges together, in our very own Singapore spirit. This deployment exercise is a testament of the union’s collaboration with the companies in preserving the workers’ jobs. We are grateful for the workers’ sacrifices and the management’s commitment to protect the livelihoods of every worker.”
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