Labour Movement aims to warm the hearts of 30,000 low-wage workers with the new U Appreciate movement

Acting on feedback received from several focus group discussions held last year, where one salient point raised was the lack of respect and appreciation for low-wage workers and their jobs, the Labour Movement launched its U Appreciate movement today to encourage employers and the general public to show more care and appreciation for their low-wage workers.

Last June, more than 7,000 cleaners were recognised for their efforts when 154 private and public organisations, including unions, town councils, government agencies and grassroots organisations, joined the Labour Movement’s “I Care For My Cleaners” campaign to show appreciation to their cleaners in their own ways. For example, some companies held appreciation lunches, presented gifts such as vouchers and hampers, and organised special outings for their cleaners.

Through the U Appreciate movement, the Labour Movement wants to do the same for another 30,000 low-wage workers across, for a start, three key sectors – cleaning, security and landscape.  Spearheaded by the NTUC U Care Centre, the U Appreciate movement will involve relevant industry stakeholders joining hands to plan and roll-out a series of activities and initiatives to encourage more employers and the general public to be proactive in showing that they value and care for low-wage workers.

These U Appreciate activities and initiatives will be planned out over the next few months and more details will be provided at a later stage:

1. Cleaning: Building on last year’s success, “I Care For My Cleaners” will continue to be the key initiative to promote respect and appreciation for cleaners. The initiative will maintain a bottom-up approach, where companies will be encouraged to take the lead. This year, more companies will be invited to pledge their support and commitment to the movement. Engagement efforts will also be widened with the introduction of a social media campaign to get more members of the public involved.
    
2. Security: Initiatives to show appreciation to security officers will be led by the Union of Security Employees, in partnership with the security associations and agencies.
    
3. Landscaping: For landscape technicians, the U Care Centre will be collaborating with the Landscape Industries Association (Singapore) (LIAS) to map out initiatives for them.

In strong support of the U Appreciate movement, the Singapore Labour Foundation (SLF) has committed a $2 million fund for the movement for a period of two years.

Mr Zainal Sapari, Assistant Secretary-General, NTUC, and Director, U Care Centre, said: “The Labour movement has been pushing for better lives for our low-wage workers, and we are heartened that there have been successes in the area of sustaining their wage increases with the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) and the government’s call for mandatory licensing in industries where cheap-sourcing is rampant.”

“While we celebrate this very significant achievement and continue to drive change in other industries, it is also important for us to remember that the basic element of respect for fellow workers is just as important in creating an inclusive society where everyone is valued and appreciated for their contributions to society,” he added.

The U Appreciate movement therefore aims to drive change in mindset and social behaviour via its mantra – ‘THANK U’:

Towards
Honouring,
Appreciating and
Nurturing a culture of
Kindness for our
Unsung heroes

Companies and organisations who wish to organise their own appreciation events for their low-wage workers may approach the NTUC U Care Centre for logistical support.

U Care ‘Better Skills, Better Jobs’ Roadshow

U Appreciate was launched at the U Care ‘Better Skills, Better Jobs’ Roadshow – an event organised by the NTUC U Care Centre specially for helping low-wage workers in the areas of workplace advisory assistance and information on training opportunities. The roadshow’s job fair component will also feature more than 120 different job positions from 22 exhibiting companies, from the cleaning, security, landscape, logistics, retail, F&B, manufacturing and hospitality sectors.

The roadshow aims to reach out to 5,000 low-wage workers during its two-day run from 19 to 20 April 2014.

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