Introduction
(With reference to a video film screened before the speech) That one Labour Movement (LM) journey which impacted their lives and importantly, through them, impacting even more lives. These are good LM stories — stories that are not only told through this video but real-life stories being told each day on the ground.
Good Morning! Prime Minister Brother Lee Hsien Loong and Sister Ho Ching, Senior Minister Brother Tharman, Deputy Prime Minister Brother Heng Swee Keat, Emeritus Senior Minister Brother Goh Chok Tong, President Sister Mary Liew and NTUC Central Committee Members, fellow Ministers, Sister Josephine, Manpower Minister, my fellow parliamentary colleagues, SNEF President Brother Robert Yap and tripartite partners, PAP comrades, and Sisters and Brothers.
ESM Brother Goh Chok Tong, thank you for your support. President NTUC Mary Liew, fellow CC members and fellow cabinet ministers; and special greetings to Sister Josephine, Minister of Manpower, my fellow LMP colleagues, President SNEF Robert Yap and SNEF friends, tripartite partners and most importantly, my PAP comrades. And Sisters and Brothers, a very good morning to all of you!
Today, I’m a little excited but “kanjiong” as well. Today, I’m happy to be here as Secretary-General (SG) addressing all of you for first time. More importantly, I’m happy to be celebrating May Day with our tripartite partners, our Government colleagues, friends from business and with all of you. I never assume that this is always going to be this way. We have been here for many years and with our special tripartite partners, unlike anywhere else in the world. So today is a good day for us to celebrate May Day.
This is also a special year for all of us at LM because 50 years ago in 1969, we had the Modernisation Seminar. It was a pivotal seminar because we dropped our combative tactics and went on a different trajectory altogether to collaborate with Government and businesses so that we can chart a longer term economic success for Singapore. And we have done well for 50 long years.
It was also an important seminar because we celebrate our social enterprises. We heard the issues from Brothers and Sisters on the ground, and addressed some of these welfare concerns. It’s also a special year because we want to celebrate 50 years of good relations and good cooperation that founded wealth for Singapore in the last 50 odd years. And we want to keep it this way for the next 50 years, all the way to SG 100. It’s worthwhile to celebrate.
Lastly, it must be because of each and every Brother and Sister on the ground. The video celebrates the achievements of each and every one of you, be it Brother Nachi, Boon Cheong or Iswandie; each and every one of you deserve the biggest round of applause as we begin to celebrate.
3Ws - Wages, Welfare, Work Prospects
Wages
2018 was a good year for LM — the work that we need to do to work hard, to champion the interests of workers in getting back to basics and look out for all of you — to make sure workers have better wages and welfare. And importantly, when I read the newspapers today, I read that Prime Minister Lee said we need to cast our eyes on the future as well. And we are not looking at immediate issues but casting our eyes on the future to secure better work prospects. As your SG for the last one year, I’ve said these — the 3Ws — on and on. And I hope all of you understand as my sharing with you today is based on these 3Ws.
First, let me talk a bit about wages. In 2018, workers continued to have good wage growth. Based on available Ministry of Manpower and NTUC data (2015-2017), unionised workers enjoyed an average of 4.2% increase for workers per annum compared to rest of Singapore at 3.5%. What does this mean? It means we have a better rate of growth and secondly, it means our unions have better productivity and bosses are willing to pay us that little bit more to recognise our contributions.
Even though we have wage growth, we have Industrial Relations issues as well. Last year, we had 4,800 cases, slightly more than 2017. And in these cases, we represent our Brothers and Sisters on the ground to negotiate for salary claims to secure better retrenchment benefits when there is a need to retrench workers. And very importantly, we need to fight for our Brothers and Sisters on the ground for the rightful salaries and we took it all the way to the courts — to the Industrial Arbitration Court where it needed to.
I like what Brother Boon Cheong said in the video. I heard some murmurings as well that NTUC is the mountain behind him. Not every often that we need to be the mountain behind Boon Cheong. We still need to be alongside them each day and if need to, we will stand up and we will represent you to the best of our abilities and be that NTUC mountain for each and every worker.
In the area of low-wage workers, we have made progress. The conversations I have had with many uncles and aunties including our cleaners and security guards in NTUC Club are positive. They are happy to work and earn a salary; and are happy that the Progressive Wage Models (PWM) have made a difference to their income. With higher productivity through training, they are able to enjoy wage growth. They are also happy with some support from the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) and they understand the need to prepare for retirement but they wish to have more take-home pay. They are happy that WIS and PWM made a difference to their earning power. On one hand, I’m happy with this but on the other hand, I honestly tell you I still have some concerns for longer term prospects of my Sisters and Brothers who are earning lower wages and slightly older.
I always continue to tell them to continue the lifelong learning journey. So, Brothers and Sisters and union leaders, please continue to encourage them to go for lifelong learning. If anyone falls between the gaps, we will make sure our U-Care fund, Brother Zainal and I will continue to fill in the gaps and help any Sister and Brother who need a helping hand.
In the area of older workers, the issue at the back of our minds is the retirement and re-employment age. The Tripartite Workgroup, led by Brother Heng Chee How, is working hard with our partners and we hope to furnish our report to the Government in the second half of the year. In my many conversations with the older workers, they tell me they desire to keep an active life and have the option to extend their working career. I can empathise with them and fully support the idea of extending retirement and re-employment age. We hope to have good news to report to you sooner than later.
Our senior workers matters — their growth and their own personal lives. We are all ageing and with workers able to contribute, that would mean much more productive and competitive if we can get them to be trained and be productive and be partners for businesses.
So, our business Brothers and Sisters continue to support older workers not in terms of moral support but send them for training, be productive and be valuable to your businesses.
So in the past year, we have worked hard, all of you. But NTUC is also looking ahead to transform and innovate as well.
Today, Singaporean workers profile is changing. Just two years ago in Singapore, we had two-third rank-and-file and one-third professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs). Today, the ratio is half-half. In 10 or 11 years’ time, we expect one-third rank-and-file and two-third PMETs. So what we do is that NTUC, Government and businesses need to think ahead to innovate and transform.
And that is exactly what we have been doing in the last 12 months. Reaching out to different sectors, especially freelancers and PMETs. We are innovating in new structures in organising ourselves, trying out new things for our freelancer Brothers and Sisters — we have organised our National Instructors and Coaches Association (NICA) for our coaches and instructors. By and large, they provide services to Government and other agencies, and we want to help them organise better so they can have a bargaining platform with service buyers.
For the PMEs, this is a growth industry and we have attempted to organise a Banking and Financial Services Union, in a different way to represent more PMEs. We have tied up the FinTech Association and workers so both unions and FinTech professionals can chart new possibilities for workers in the banking sector.
In the ICT sector where there are more PMEs, we have also set up a Tech Talent Assembly (TTAB) where we bring in ICT professionals. The Tech Talent Assembly was only set up late last year and are doing good work on the ground. They are recruiting 100 PMEs into TTAB every month and growing the PME representation in ICT sector. So, good work. My pressure on you to do 100 per month, this means my pressure on FinTech to do faster and bigger soon.
In the traditional union space, we have also started a Supply Chain Employees’ Union which is a vertical union where we are pushing boundaries on PME representation and rank-and-file in different set up where an Exco comprises PMEs and rank-and-file. If I’m not mistaken, this is the first we have a President of a union that is the VP of a major logistics company. So we are pushing the boundaries and seeing what we can do to take care of our workers on the ground. And now with an eye on the future of transformation to take care of the new Singaporean workers — your daughters, your sons. As long as I am the Secretary-General, I will do this for all of us — plan for now and plan for the long future.
This being May 2019, commemorating 50 years of our Modernisation Seminar is a good time for us to reflect. Our forefathers, our founding fathers — Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Mr Goh Keng Swee, Mr Devan Nair — had the foresight and the boldness to chart the new direction. Now in 2019, are we in the same transition to look again and find new ways to do thing? The answer must be yes.
Welfare
So Brothers and Sisters, I have spoken about wages. Let me talk briefly about welfare because on the ground, in my walk with all of you — whether I have visited companies or went to talk to union leaders including at the canteen — one common feedback that I have when I interacted with my union Sisters and Brothers on the ground is that that they are concerned about the cost of living even though I have intellectually convinced them that Singaporeans have enjoyed real wage growth. The counter will always be, “But SG, you know, things are getting expensive.” Whether it’s the household items in supermarket or the younger families that eat out more, they face certain pressures.
We hear you. I went to see our Social Enterprise Sisters and Brothers and what we have done over March and April. I want to specially mention Brother Seah Kian Peng, Chief Executive Officer of NTUC FairPrice. He has promised to hold the price of 100 essential items. Little known to many, he lowered some prices of certain items so our Brothers and Sisters can enjoy savings. Savings of 20-30% each time you go shopping. So thank you, Brother Kian Peng.
And with NTUC’s acquisition of Kopitiam, we have also put up 50 cents coffee and I must tell you again, for all our union members, today is the day you can walk out and have 50 cents coffee. No daily limit. The whole month of May. I did a mental calculation last night — if you drink 3 cups of coffee and hopefully without sugar, with each cup you save around $1 or $1,20; and in one month, you would have earned back your whole year membership fees! So, 50 cents coffee every day in the month of May and from June 2019 onwards to 2020 June, on every Wednesday, enjoy your coffee as well, with no daily limit! So go out and stretch your dollar! We also want to recognise and extend this offer to our Merdeka Generation and Pioneer Generation.
Sisters and Brothers, next time when I drink coffee with you, maybe on a Wednesday, please remember when you go “jalan jalan”, don't complain to SG again. Look out for the best deals to stretch your dollar, use your NTUC LinkPoints and treasure your rebates so what we can help. We will help but you have to do your part in stretching your dollar. We have heard your concerns in NTUC. What we are doing is but a small gesture to let you know that we have heard you and we care. And I have said before — we will do what we can, with all of you at the heart of everything we do.
Work Prospects
I have spoken about the first 2Ws – Wages and Welfare. I have come to the most important part in my speech to you – Work Prospects. It is the most important part of the speech because work prospects is the last W that we can create a sustainable way for us to grow the 3Ws continually overtime. Our Government has put in a lot of effort at the macro level, under Brother Lim Swee Say’s time, when the focus was on building the economy. The 23 Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) were created, the 23 ITMs chartered the macro-level transformation. Our Government has not only given us the direction to take, they have given the resources through multiple grants today – Enterprise Development Grant, Adapt and Grow grants, so many grants in the marketplace. Importantly, it is not only to support the businesses. With the SkillsFuture that Brother Tharman and Brother Ong Ye Kung have set up, they also provide funds to help train the workers, not just the $500 but also the whole programme to help workers.
I'll take a pause and tell you a story of Brother Iswandie. In the video, he was calm and said he was a “rotten banana” but he is actually a “smart banana”. It just took him some time to mature. Give him some time to ripen. You saw a handsome Iswandie but during the video filming, Brother Iswandie took a long time to tell his story as it was a long arduous journey that he went through. Without his wife, his mother and union brothers alongside, he told me he couldn’t have done it. He wanted me to specially mention Brother Philip Lee and Brother Sazali. Brother Iswandie was on the verge of tears a few times and it took many shots to capture him and his story. It is with hard work and support from Government, unions as well as supportive bosses that we have a happy story like Brother Iswandie. And, we want more stories like his. Correct? I am confident that we can have more stories like Brother Iswandie but let me bring you all down to earth. I have spoken to so many workers this year, including some of our union leaders, they are scared of technology. They have a fear that technology will take away their jobs, livelihood and bread-and-butter. I can understand that. Even though many other workers know that we have to go for lifelong learning, they have not taken the first step.
Let me lighten the mood a bit and tell you a story and hopefully can change your perspective. In a circus stunt, there was a fearsome lion in a cage with a beautiful young assistant. The ringmaster, at the snap of his finger, the fearsome lion went over and kissed the assistant. The ringmaster was proud and exclaimed to the crowd, “Who can do the same?”. There was a deafening silence until one young man stood up and, some say he is a union leader, said “I can do it, but first, get your lion out of the way. I will kiss the girl.
Well, maybe 70 to 80 per cent of the audience got the joke. But let me try to explain the joke to you. Well, the lion and the girl can both be viewed as technology. If we take the view that technology is to be feared, we will not dare to enter the new space, come out of our comfort zone and try to grab new opportunities. But if we see technology as the beautiful young lady (sorry this is a little bias), if we take the step and get out of our comfort zone, we can secure the price in our hand. So, out of nothing else you remember what SG said today, just remember the lion story today.
Why do I say this? It’s not a matter of joke. Because out from the Future of Work conference that we had a few days ago where different thought leaders came to Singapore, 70 to 80 per cent of the conversation centred on changing workers’ mindsets. But what I found that Singapore can add value to the conversation is that we are taking action to change workers’ mindset with the Government’s support. With businesses that are supportive, we are now moving to develop concrete proposals. What do I mean?
So, as you heard in Parliament in March this year, NTUC has proposed Company Training Committees (CTC) to be worked in the company’s together with the management. The CTCs, in short, will cover three things — accelerate acceptance of technology, sometimes even for the businesses and definitely for the workers; adoption of technology to solve problems so that we can also accelerate the actualisation of the transformation — bringing in new technologies to create better businesses and of course, for our workers.
How will this be different? You may ask.
Well, who can nudge and convince our Brothers and Sisters on the ground better than my Brothers and Sisters that are seated at the back? Who can convince our workers better than Brother Iswandie with his twenty years of hardship in going for training. Now he is a trainer. And I hear that he will be promoted to the Head of Training? So, how is it possible that a union leader can convince better than our Government? Better than your Sec-Gen? Because you have the trust of the workers.
If our workers are able to change their mindset, then we can have a much higher rate of success and a faster way of grasping our country’s transformation.
How will Company Training Committees (CTC) help? Well, in two ways. The CTCs will be the linkage between trainers and our workers. We can advise business owners on how to access the plethora of Government grants that are available. How do you access the resources? The little link-ups, a little boost will help — how can we actually ride on the Government’s expertise and NTUC’s expertise to get you to think about technology as not just the solution but to really understand your business and the technologies to solve business problems.
So for business owners, it is a sure win. And with our network, we are able to nudge our workers to go for training despite their busy work schedule. Essentially, we are able to persuade more and more to partner companies to shorten the time between having the technology and making technology work for you. Some businesses make the mistake of “buying” technology and then after 12 months, workers don’t know how to use the technology and don’t want to use the technology. With the CTC, we want the “buying” of technology and training of workers to be on parallel tracks. Why? Because time is money in the business world. This one or two years’ advantage is important today if we can put the CTC in place. The key is about actualising the value with transformation.
So the three As — acceptance of technology; adopting technology and actualisation of value add from technologies. So that when businesses have better profits, better businesses will translate to better 3Ws for our workers. And I am happy to report to all of you that since March, we have 18 companies already signed up for the CTCs with quite a few tens already under discussion to sign the CTCs. So we are able to have the first scale of transformation from the Government and from the Labour Movement, from our Brothers and Sisters, from ground up. When we do it together, we will ensure that you will win and the employers will win. And if we choose to do this across many businesses, our economy will also win. And hence, we will have three big Wins for our country — Singapore wins, businesses win, workers win. Is this the outcome that we want? Sisters and Brothers, we must work not just on immediate bread and butter issues.
Before I conclude, I want to specially recognise our SNEF Brother Robert Yap and SNEF for support over the years; Sister Josephine who understands the LM, knows where we are coming from and where we need to go. We have pro-worker Government, supportive employers. So we must also ask ourselves in the Labour Movement: what must we do, on our part, to secure our own successes too?
So Sisters and Brothers, on this May Day, let us always put workers at the heart of everything we do — take action, innovate, train. So that they can be more ready, relevant, resilient for the future economy. If we do this, we will be ready to seize new opportunities and work towards the 3Ws – better wages, better welfare and better work prospects! And NTUC will always be that mountain behind you.
Thank you! Majulah NTUC!
# # #
