The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) announced its Fair Consideration Framework this morning which sets out measures for companies to fairly consider Singaporean in their hiring process.
The Labour Movement is happy that the MOM has responded positively to our feedback when we raised concerns of the excessive numbers of foreign Professionals, Managers and Executives (PMEs) and hiring malpractices. Since August 2011 through October 2011 and Budget Debate 2012, we have lobbied for a form of labour market testing (LMT) to ensure that Singaporeans are given due consideration before employers recruit foreigners.
We believe that the LMT would translate to greater transparency and more opportunities for local PMEs, and grow the Singaporean Core. We have highlighted several key principles that we feel LMT should encompass: 1) fair consideration of locals and advertising requirements, 2) transparency of advertisement / national jobs bank, 3) efficiency, and 4) efficacy and enforcement.
We are heartened that our suggestion to establish a new national jobs bank will be implemented by Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), and that NTUC's e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) will be able to use this resource as well. This will increase transparency as well as the level playing field for local PMEs as it will help to better match vacancies with jobseekers.
As all job advertisements will be placed with the national jobs bank, WDA and e2i can better understand the PME job market, track employment trends and identify skills shortages. This will enable our national continuing education and training programmes and initiatives to remain relevant and reflective of market conditions.
NTUC and our affiliated unions remain open to foreign PMEs. This framework should ensure that foreign manpower will complement rather than undercut the skills of the local workforce.
We will continue to work closely with MOM and our tripartite partners on the efficacy of this framework, and continue in our push to develop a strong Singaporean Core so that better jobs can be matched to better local workers.
Mr Patrick Tay
Director for PME (Professionals, Managers and Executives) Unit and
Legal Services Department
National Trades Union Congress
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Additional quotes from union leaders:
Mr Wee Soon Guan, General Secretary, Singapore Bank Officers' Association (SBOA)
'SBOA welcomes the Fair Consideration Framework. We hope this will create a more level-playing field for our Singaporean PMEs especially in the banking and finance industry where there seems to be a higher proportion of foreign PMEs. With the framework in place, we hope to see a better matching between jobseekers and vacancies and that Singaporeans are considered first.'
Mr Lim Kuang Beng, General Secretary, Singapore Industrial & Services Employees' Union (SISEU)
'Singapore must remain open to foreign investment as these create good jobs for our workers. So while we welcome foreign PMEs who bring with them their skills and experience, we must also ensure that our local workforce are not disadvantaged by this.'
Mr Tan Richard, General Secretary, United Workers of Electronics & Electrical Industries (UWEEI)
'The Fair Consideration Framework is a good start to ensure that our Singaporean PME workers can get a fair opportunity to good jobs. That said, our workers must continue to upgrade our knowledge and skills so that we can remain competitive to take on these jobs.'
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