By Ramesh Subbaraman
NTUC Secretary-General (SG) Chan Chun Sing has emphasised that regardless of the challenges faced by the Labour Movement, its three fundamental missions remain unchanged.
These are to Care for workers, to be Fair to them and Grow with them.
SG Chan made these points during a media sharing session and doorstop interview at the close of the Second Day of the NTUC National Delegates’ Conference held at Downtown East.
Debating Priorities
Much of the second day of the NDC focussed on workshop sessions to discuss the various plans being outlined under the three priority areas.
On Caring for workers. SG Chan said, "The best way we can Care for workers is to have a very good environment where we can create good jobs for our workers so that they can continue to enjoy good wages for their families.
“Then the question is how do we create a good environment? That requires a bit of effort but the most important part of that effort is the continued strength of the tripartite model, where we need to grow a new generation of younger tripartite leaders who can carry the torch to create a positive environment for investments to come in."
Fair And Grow
On being Fair to workers, SG Chan said NTUC will continue to work closely with the Manpower Ministry to ensure that new employment models are fair to the new generation of workers.
"On the other hand, we will continue to grow a strong Singaporean core not just in terms of numbers but also in terms of quality of jobs available to Singaporeans," he said.
Turning to the third prong of Grow, he said there are few areas NTUC will step up its efforts. First is SkillsFuture, and SG Chan said NTUC wants to ensure workers have skills which are relevant to the current and future markets.
Secondly, given the growth and diversity in membership, SG Chan said more avenues of communications and engagement will be rolled out so that union members align themselves with the Labour Movement's (LM) mission.
SG Chan had this to say about the dedication of Singapore's union leaders: "Our union leaders are here to serve not because of fame or monetary benefits. They are here to serve because they truly care for workers and want to improve their lives. For us to do justice to them, we must equip them with the necessary skills-set and the correct ethos to always put the country and workers before themselves."
A New Central Committee
SG Chan noted that on Thursday, 29 October, NTUC will be electing a new Central Committee. He highlighted that the Central Committee member will have two sets of responsibilities.
Besides their individual responsibility for their sector and union, they would also be given cross-sector responsibilities to achieve the objectives outlined under LM2019’s Care, Fair and Grow.
The NTUC Central Committee is made up of 21 members.
Source: NTUC This Week
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