By Ramesh Subbaraman
Professionals, managers and executives or PMEs got a boost with the latest changes to the Industrial Relations (IR) Act. The Act which was passed in Parliament on 19 January 2015 will see them getting better union representation.
Giving their strong support to the Act were Labour MPs Patrick Tay, Zainal Sapari, Yeo Guat Kwang, K Karthikeyan, Ang Hin Kee and Heng Chee How who touched on various aspects of the legislation.
Meeting Needs
Moving the Second Reading of the legislation in Parliament was Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin who said the proposed changes to the IR
Act were intended to better meet the needs of the PMEs as well as help employers and unions to work together to more effectively engage this growing group of workers.
“We will be strengthening an already constructive tripartite partnership, and making it more inclusive”, said Mr Tan.
He noted that PMEs now make up thirty per cent of the Singapore workforce and this number is set to grow in the years to come.
Resident PMEs now number nearly 638,500.
As such there is a need to see how this group of workers can be better represented at the workplace and welcomedinto the tripartite framework.
“At the same time, we need to see how employers can better work together with unions to engage these employees. The tripartite partners agreed that we would do this in a measured and sensible way without undermining labour market flexibility and management prerogatives on issues which the unions can enter into negotiations with Management,” explained Mr Tan.
Strong Support
Leading the Labour MPs team in Parliament in lending strong support for the Act was NTUC Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the NTUC’s PME Unit Patrick Tay who emphasised that the legislation was a landmark change in Singapore’s journey to reach out and serve the PME population.
“The first change is a watershed change to allow trade unions whose majority of membership consists of non-executive and non-managerial employees, commonly referred to as Rank-and-File Unions, be allowed to collectively represent PMEs,” he said.
The second change said ASG Tay is the addition of re-employment as another category under individual limited representation.
ASG Tay stressed that these changes were substantive ones as unions will be able to stretch their scope of representation and ensure the welfare and interests of all workers including PMEs.
Area Of Concern
However, Labour MPs have one area of concern- the exclusion list of those who will not fall within the ambit of the IR Act.
They included those involved in hiring, firing, promotion, dismissals and disciplinary duties, those with access to confidential information such as payroll and budgeting information, those who represent employers' interest in union-management matters and those whose union affiliation would give rise to conflict of interest.
“To ensure the Labour Movement and tripartism stays relevant, inclusive and representative of the workforce, we want to confirm that for every organisation, this is but a small, core group only and does not extend too far downwards. We should aim to only cut off the top and senior management only and not all other managers and executives or else this change will not be impactful and progressive,” said ASG Tay
The changes to the Act is proposed to take effect on 1 April 2015.
Source: NTUC This Week
