Labour Members of Parliament emphasise the need to help working people transition successfully in this age of rapid technological disruptions. Here are highlights from their speeches in Parliament.
Help Mature Workers Transition into the Future Economy
As an advocate for mature workers in the Labour Movement, NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Heng and Member of Parliament for Jalan Besar GRC highlighted the difficulties that most mature workers face – transition and adaptation.
Even though there are schemes in place to help displaced mature workers get back into the workforce more quickly such as Adapt and Grow and the Career Support Programme, he said that there is a need for continued focus in helping these workers to transit and adapt to structural shifts in the economy.
This can be done by developing a keener sense of where the jobs will be in the future, in addition to the wage and training support within these programmes.
Mr Heng also urged employers to recognise the importance of mature workers. This is crucial especially when companies lose their experienced manpower, as they will usually find it harder to recruit workers of the same experience should demand return.
He added that this is an opportune moment for the Human Resource profession to step up and help companies maximise the contribution of their human capital through the recommendations of the HR Sectoral Tripartite Committee and initiatives under the Human Capital Partnership (HCP) programme.
The HCP programme is a tripartite initiative that brings together a community of employers who are committed to grow their businesses and stay competitive by having progressive employment practices and developing their human capital.
Enable Young Workers to Get Jobs, and Women to Return to the Workforce
Young NTUC Director Desmond Choo highlighted the challenges faced by young workers such as the relevance of skills learnt in school, having jobs that would build up their careers and life journey, and employers’ current emphasis on experience rather than qualifications.
To tackle this, the Member of Parliament for Tampines GRC suggested an expansion of mutual help mentor-mentee systems found in NTUC’s Youth Career Network, which has seen considerable success since its recent pilot. This, he hopes, will assist more students in their job search efforts.
Mr Choo also spoke up on back-to-work women who may need help to navigate their career options. In a recent poll done by NTUC U Family, 60 per cent of the respondents of varying ages and qualifications intend to go back to work within the year.
As such, he reiterated the Labour Movement’s call for a "Returnship Programme" to help women get back into the workforce, with the Public Service Division and government-linked companies taking the lead.
Deepen Tripartism at Both National and Sectoral Levels
NTUC Director (Tripartism) Melvin Yong called for tripartism at both the national and sectoral levels to be deepened to help workers gain skills ahead of time as Singapore’s economy and industries transform. He cited the Singapore Bus Academy (SBA) as a good example of a collaborative tripartite effort by the Land Transport Authority, the then Singapore Workforce Development Agency, NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute), the National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU), and public bus operators.
The SBA was launched in October last year to ensure a consistent service delivery standard across the bus industry workforce.
The MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC also suggested the setting up of centralised training centres to extend skills upgrading through the respective Sectoral Tripartite Committees to other industries such as lift, aviation ground handling and precision engineering.
Help SMEs and Middle-Income Families
Nominated MP K Thanaletchimi, who is also an NTUC Central Committee Member, raised concerns over how the various Budget 2017 measures will impact small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) that employ two-thirds of the Singapore workforce.
As some SMEs are barely surviving, even with Government funding, she suggested that the Government work with the Labour Movement to explore ways to assist workers to transit into new employment before companies wind down.
She also touched on the issue of cost of living, especially with regard to the increase in diesel and water prices announced at Budget. Although measures are in place to render assistance to low-income families, she was worried about the middle-class families, who will feel the brunt of these increases.
Scale-up SMEs and Protect Freelancers
NTUC Assistant Director-General Ang Hin Kee said that Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) have been identified as multipliers to lead industry-level initiatives and support the scale-up of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to be more competitive.
SMEs often face a manpower crunch and difficulty to attract fresh talent with varying needs and aspirations. With this assistance from the TACs, SMEs can be better prepared to guide and communicate with young workers and address these issues.
As Singapore gears up for the future economy, the MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC suggested that employment practices be ramped up to become more robust and inclusive and cover all groups of working people, including freelancers.
Look After Low-Wage Workers and Embrace Disruptive Technology
As the champion for low-wage workers (LWW) in the Labour Movement, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General and MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC Zainal Sapari called on the Government to encourage fairer procurement policies for LWWs such as 13th month bonus and better basic salaries, which could set the benchmark for private sectors to follow.
He also stressed on the advent of disruptive technology and how important it is for LWW to embrace it. He urged employers to support LWWs in upskilling initiatives.
Enable PMEs to Transit
In the area of future jobs, future skills and future training, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Patrick Tay made suggestions for to help PMEs. This is because, in times of uncertainty and structural challenges, they are the most vulnerable and sandwiched segment of the workforce.
Mr Tay, who is also MP for West Coast GRC, called on the tripartite partners to have closer collaborations with institutes of higher learning, industry partners, stakeholders and research and consultancy companies to better inform workers about future jobs and skills. He iterated that the Labour Movement is already playing a key role in this regard, with the formation of the Future Jobs, Skills and Training department.
He said that more needs to be done to educate workers about digitisation, and proposed a digital awareness or development programme.
Mr Tay also called for greater Government support to help mature PMEs enter second careers more seamlessly at the mid-level instead of entry-level by encouraging employers to consider their adjacent skills and experience.
Source: NTUC This Week
