“For the Labour Movement, going forth, we still abide by the two words that galvanise us. We want to stay representative of the broad middle of the Singapore workforce. We want to stay relevant to them. These two are mutually reinforcing concepts,” said NTUC Secretary-General (SG) Chan Chun Sing.
The Labour Movement’s main focus has always been to help workers, and it continues with the commitment to prepare them for tomorrow’s challenges and jobs.
SG Chan was speaking at the NTUC May Day Rally held at Downtown East on 1 May 2018 to some 1,600 attendees comprising union leaders, tripartite partners, and representatives from the U Associate, U SME (small- and medium-sized enterprises), U FSE (Freelancers and Self-Employed) and NTUC social enterprises.
NETF Achieves Target
As the Labour Movement ramps up its efforts to make training and upgrading more accessible to working Singaporeans, SG Chan announced that the Labour Movement has successfully achieved its target of raising $50 million through sponsorships for the NTUC-Education and Training Fund (NETF).
Complemented by the Government’s 1:3 matching grant, first announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the May Day Rally 2016, a total of $200 million in funding has since been added to the NETF. This will be used to support the development of just-in-time and bite-sized training modules for workers.
Doing Things Differently
As industries and business models continue to transform, it has become crucial for working people to embrace change, learn and adapt as quickly as possible. As an example of the new available training capabilities being developed in the Labour Movement, SG Chan announced the launch of U Leap Enterprise, the second phase of U Leap.
An NTUC e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) initiative, U Leap Enterprise is a mobile learning platform that enables companies to tap the Labour Movement’s training network of institutes of higher learning, U Associates, professional guilds, trade associations and chambers and training providers to curate and customise mobile learning modules for their workers. Seven companies have since tapped on the initiative as first-movers, and they include Amara Hotel & Resorts, Crystal Jade Culinary Concepts Holding and Gong Cha (Singapore).
Staying Representative
SG Chan shared how the Labour Movement is evolving its five limbs – unions, U Associate community of professional guilds and associations, U SME network of small- and medium-sized enterprises, U FSE (Freelancers and Self-Employed), Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE) and Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) – to remain strong, representative and relevant with touchpoints for all working people in Singapore.
Unions have also stepped up their efforts to go beyond protecting the employment and legal rights of workers to include helping displaced workers find employment as well as facilitate upskilling and career progression.
The aim, he said, is not just in helping jobseekers today find jobs. But in helping the jobseeker of tomorrow secure employment in the jobs of the future.
“The unions have continued to grow from strength to strength. Not just in increasing the number of branches and the number of workers. Most importantly, we also want to start new unions, and new associations in new sectors of the economy to make sure that our Labour Movement continues to stay representative,” said SG Chan as he introduced the new Supply Chain Employees Union that was formed on 30 April 2018 and led by ST Logistics.
He highlighted how unions and U Associates are working together as clusters to better serve the career aspirations of working people. He listed sectors such as healthcare, OPEC (oil, petroleum, energy and chemical) as well as the fast growing infocomm and technology and finance as examples where there are growing collaborations.
NTUC is also offering greater value to small- and medium-sized enterprise partners. Notable efforts include NTUC’s partnership with UOB to help SMEs improve productivity with UOB BizSmart digital solutions system.
Developing Leaders
On the continuous development of strong leadership in the Labour Movement, SG Chan said: “The best welfare for our workers is a good job, one where they are ready for ahead of time. We are challenging ourselves in the Labour Movement in how we can upgrade the skills of our officers. How can we upgrade the skills of our Labour Movement leaders so that each and every Labour Movement leader can understand the challenges and aspirations of not just a rank-and-file worker, but also professionals, managers and executives, workers in SMEs, freelancers and self-employed, and even the migrant worker.
“When we can do that, we will truly have become a relevant and representative Labour Movement.”
Introducing New Leaders
Taking to the stage were NTUC’s new Deputy Secretaries-General (DSGs) Ng Chee Meng and Koh Poh Koon.
“The Labour Movement has a crucial role to play in advancing the interests of our working people and ensuring that they remain relevant. I have things that I would like to achieve for our working people. Together with our tripartite partners, our Labour Movement leaders, I would like to walk the ground with you, conduct dialogues to talk about fair wages, good welfare for our people and their families. And importantly, to explore how to create good job prospects, upgrading and training,” said DSG Ng.
Taking his turn, DSG Koh said: “In healthcare, the patient is at the heart of all we do. In the Labour Movement, the worker is at the heart of all we do,” said DSG Koh.
Read more about SG Chan’s pre-May Day rally briefing here.
Read more about Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s May Day Rally speech here.
