Emerging stronger together is crucial and not simply a ‘nice to have’, especially for older workers.
NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Heng Chee How made this statement in his Budget Debate Speech in Parliament on 24 February 2021.
Mr Heng also emphasised that no group should be left behind in Singapore’s journey to recovery as this is key to social cohesion and stability, and special attention must be paid to senior workers who are vulnerable in times of crisis.
He proposed five measures to protect older workers.
Mr Heng thanked the Government for the various support measures that have been rolled out to help thousands of workers keep their jobs. He also supports the fine-tuned extension of these schemes as announced at the Deputy Prime Minister’s Budget speech.
At the same time, Mr Heng pointed out that senior workers in the more badly affected sectors such as aerospace, aviation and retail experienced significant impact due to non-offers and non-renewals of re-employment contracts as firms downsized last year.
“I urge more Government support to step up specific, industry-focused efforts to help senior workers in these distressed sectors keep their jobs, or be proactively retrained and placed into jobs in other sectors and industries,” he said.
The Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers previously reached consensus to raise the Statutory Retirement Age from 62 to 65, and the re-employment age ceiling from 67 to 70 progressively over the coming decade, starting with a new retirement age of 63 and a new re-employment age of 68 from July 2022.
Increases in CPF contributions for older workers were also planned for the coming years. But COVID-19 forced the CPF enhancements to be deferred by a year to 1 January 2022.
Mr Heng called for all these to proceed without further delay.
“I also urge the Government to help employers defray the cost of their enhanced CPF contributions through the CPF Transition Offset, as was the plan prior to the deferment,” he added.
Flexible work arrangements allow more middle-aged workers to undertake caregiving without having to quit work and to return to work post-caregiving.
This was a point raised by Mr Heng before.
COVID-19 proved that both employers and workers can adapt to non-traditional arrangements such as this.
“I, therefore, urge the Government to strongly support the more pervasive adoption of Flexible Work Arrangements. This can significantly improve employment outcomes for senior workers,” he said.
Another thing the pandemic has shown is that lifelong learning for lifelong employability is possible, he added.
“Using our smartphones, laptops and tablets to order food, scan QR codes for services, conduct meetings online and leverage e-commerce platforms have now become second nature to businesses and individuals. Senior workers too had to adapt, and did,” said Mr Heng.
He urged further integration between the jobs-skills ladders of the Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) and the work of Company (or Industry) Training Committees (CTCs).
He said that doing so will “ensure that purposeful skills-building takes place in the economy and that workers of all ages, especially senior workers, are included without discrimination.”
Lastly, Mr Heng called on the Government to work with tripartite partners to leverage vaccination to enhance business resilience and senior worker health.
“This will help forestall potential discrimination against senior workers’ employment or employability on account of perceived higher risks of infection,” he said.
Mr Heng concluded by reiterating the Labour Movement’s commitment to work with tripartite partners and senior workers to enhance their employment and employability.
“If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is that the perceived barriers to employing older workers can be overcome, and that older workers have once again proven their value and adaptability,” he said.
