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Good morning, Prime Minister Brother Lee Hsien Loong, Sister Ho Ching, President Sister Mary Liew, my fellow Central Committee members, Ministers, President Robert Yap, PAP comrades, Sisters and Brothers.
What a great way to start May Day, to see all of you in this sea of red, populating Downtown East once again.
I was so happy this morning, to be able to interact with many of you outside D’Marquee and now within the hall. The spirit of our comradeship, of all that we stand for, I can see it in your happy faces, and it makes me really, really happy.
And what's more - this morning, I don't have to remember to unmute my mic, nor turn on the video to interact with all of you.
Thank you, Prime Minister, for acknowledging and appreciating the work that NTUC and the unions have contributed in the last two years. NTUC, together with our unions will do our utmost to uphold tripartism and take concrete actions to secure a win-win for our country Singapore and for our Singaporeans.
As I stand on stage this morning, I'm thankful, really thankful, that we have largely weathered the COVID storm and now taking steps to cast our vision beyond the issues of today, to seize new opportunities, open up our economy and really launch forward for the long term.
But even so, workers of all collars, including PMEs, have started sharing new concerns with me. Top of their mind is the cost of living and given the geostrategic uncertainties that PM has mentioned, about issues or anxieties about likelihoods.
OVERCOMING COVID
Indeed, the last two years have reminded us about our vulnerabilities. COVID brought about unprecedented challenges, high unemployment rates, widespread retrenchment across all the sectors of our economy, and anxieties permeated to the deepest levels of all workers in the last two years.
Thankfully, as I've said earlier, I stand here, reporting to you that employment numbers have rebounded and generally, anxieties have abated. Even in the hotel industry, as I was talking to a CEO this morning - the tourists are coming back and they are crying out to Minister Tan See Leng for help in terms of securing workers so that they can respond to the new opportunities resurfacing in Singapore, even the hard-hit sectors.
So, even as we look at all these issues that are at the doorstep, well, let's take a moment to cast our eyes to the future as well, just like what NTUC has done in our history. If you remember in the 1950s, our union leaders, our unions stood alongside Mr Lee Kuan Yew to literally fight for better lives and better livelihoods when Singapore was under colonial rule. We were combative, literally on the streets, championing the interests of workers, our forefathers. But when Singapore became a nation state, NTUC modernised, we worked symbiotically with the PAP government of the day to change the laws, enact new laws, including labour laws, to ensure a fairer and more equal society for workers.
We dropped our confrontational stance in 1969, into a more collaborative approach together with employers so that we can forge economic growth, create better jobs, and reduce social and economic insecurities across the workforce.
NTUC has continued to innovate beyond the 60s where workers’ needs started to change. We innovated under different Secretaries-General, into the social enterprises to answer to new worker needs, whether it is NTUC Income, FairPrice, MyFirstSchool, so on and so forth. And in COVID-19, I'm happy to report to all my Sisters and Brothers, that NTUC and all of you have done the same, handled the immediate crisis and even in midst of crisis, keeping a set of our capabilities to look beyond crisis and prepare for the eventual day when the upturn comes. NTUC literally innovated on the fly in the depths of the COVID crisis, advocating for workers, suggesting, brainstorming with the Government, Sisters and Brothers on programmes that can make a difference on the ground.
In fact, not only for workers alone, but together with SNEF partners, advocating for government assistance to hard-hit sectors so that businesses can continue to survive. Our interests as the Labour Movement, as Sec-Gen, well, is simply to ensure that lives and livelihoods are preserved. But in order to do that, we know that the best way forward is a trusted tripartism where businesses can survive in COVID and take care of our workers.
So, as your Sec-Gen, this morning, as I give you the report at May Day Rally, I want to recognise and sincerely thank my Central Committee members, President Mary and the rest for your leadership, our union leaders and all my NTUC staff, whether in the ARU or in the social enterprises for giving your utmost to be alongside workers in the toughest of times, in our economic history. Thank you very much!
Likewise, I would really want to say thank you to my government, colleagues, Sisters and Brothers and our SNEF employers for your steadfast support and trust in the Labour Movement. You stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us to take care of workers and get through the worst of times over COVID.
Indeed, together either in COVID or in our long 60-year history, we have forged a deep-seated compact, a worker's compact with our workers that must be nurtured and treasured.
STRENGTHENING COMPACT WITH WORKERS
Looking now beyond COVID-19, as PM has already mentioned, new challenges are already at our doorstep. Whether it is the geostrategic uncertainties, great power rivalries, economic uncertainties, or even within our shores - the cost of living, and the longer-term issue of an ageing demographic workforce, all these issues we must deal with. As a Labour Movement, we must be cognisant of these major issues, study them carefully and work with tripartite partners to see how we can overcome together.
This we must do, for the big picture. But even as I say this, regardless of what may be the political situation or the social situation, NTUC and our Labour Movement must always remember, to anchor for our core purpose, to advance the interests of workers, to create a better living, better standard of life through the three Ws - better wages, better welfare, better work prospects.
We must do more. We must do better, to engage and understand workers’ issues and problems in our current context and the way ahead. We must connect with current generation of workers and newer generation of workers that will be coming into our workforce. And we must innovate, refresh and strengthen our workers’ compact so that NTUC can protect each segment of workers in the way ahead and uplift their lives.
We in NTUC have started the work amidst COVID and even before COVID, NTUC has been championing the interests of all workers. For our mature workers, I’ve heard your desire to want to work a little bit longer, to extend the working life runway and prepare for retirement. Retirement ages and re-employment ages are already being gradually moved, eventually to 65 and 70 years old respectively. CPF contribution rates are also gradually adjusted upwards. For the lower wage workers, NTUC together with our tripartite partners have been working tirelessly to ensure wage growth and importantly, in conjunction with productivity gains, so that there is a win-win.
The Progressive Wage Model painstakingly put in place, when implemented in the next few years will benefit up to 250,000 or so lower wage workers - a significant move from the three sectors that we have asked for some years.
Even in the migrant worker segment, in the depths of COVID-19, our Migrant Workers’ Centre were in with our migrant workers, to ensure that their welfare was taken care of amongst all the different anxieties, taking care of their basic needs, packing goodie bags, just to give them a little bit of uplift when they are away from family, in the dorms for long periods of time.
We want to do more, and we will be partnering MOM with a settling-in programme so that they can adjust to life in Singapore better and see how they can make the best use of their two to four or five years as they work in Singapore.
For our Sisters in the workforce, NTUC is working with tripartite partners to redesign jobs, create flexible work arrangement options to give our Sisters better career options in the workplace. And coincidentally, well, I did not know that there were three ladies that are CEOs and I happen to know at least two of them, persuading the two CEOs into the CTCs and making their company more successful and bringing new benefits and new possibilities for workers in tandem. So, NTUC will always be on the side of our Sisters. Don't worry Brothers, I will be on your side as well.
In the freelancer space, which is really a green field for NTUC because this segment honestly, is underserved. NTUC is stepping up to ensure fair contracts and better working conditions for our freelancers. For the vulnerable platform gig workers, we are working with our advisory committee to ensure that you have better work conditions, and in the event of injuries that you will be adequately covered. We are also looking to position you for better income sustainability.
In the PME space, SNEF and NTUC engaged some 10,000 PMEs to better understand the problems, the needs, and some of their frustrations. Particularly at the end of the exercise, NTUC and SNEF put together a set of recommendations to level the playing field for our PMEs so that they have a chance in the workplace, especially for the older PMEs who are in their 40s to 60s.
In our own business model - in the unions, NTUC has also innovated to create new unions that champion the needs of all workers including the PMEs. So in Singapore Technology Engineering Staff Union (STESU) and Supply Chain Employees Union (SCEU), these are all collar unions helmed by an Exco that comprise PMEs and the traditional strength of workers in the Excos. In fact, SCEU, the Supply Chain Employees Union, was helmed and still helmed by Vice President-level executives as union’s General Secretary or President.
We hope that this new model will be able to bring new PMEs into the folds of NTUC and contribute to championing the interests of PMEs, like with the traditional strength that we have in the rank-and-file.
And besides all these segments of workers, NTUC over COVID-19, also realised that there is one more underserved sector and that is the young - especially the 25-year-old and below. As such, NTUC will be setting up a Youth Task Force to engage the new generation of workers entering the workforce or just about to leave school. We want to hear first-hand, your needs and aspirations, have heart to heart and frank discussions and importantly over time, co-create solutions so that NTUC can better serve the younger workers.
From our initial research study, we understand the youths are concerned with three main things - career prospects and opportunities, finances and mental wellbeing and in the study, I found it interesting too that their only means of addressing these issues are either through self-help, peer advice, or the informal chat with a colleague at the workplace, to navigate this new world that they are entering into.
And therefore, NTUC can create value in this space to help the young workers ease into the workforce and be more productive and have the career opportunities that they deserve.
So, we have taken some initial work to answer to these needs. As a start, we established the Youth Career Network with our Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) partners and set up essentially a pool of 400 volunteer career mentors to be able to engage the young and give them career guidance or advice along the way.
And Young NTUC has also launched the first WSQ-Certified Training in Peer-to-Peer Mental Well-being Support @ Work. More than 350 union leaders, line managers and HR practitioners have been trained to date, to support the young as they transit.
But we think that we can do more and do better. Beyond the good work that Young NTUC has already done, we want to dive deeper to understand the young workers better across all the different collars, co-create programmes that matter to the youth. Over the next 12 to 18 months, more details will follow when we engage the 10,000 or so youths that we plan to co-create the space.
CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD, NTUC ALONGSIDE
So Sisters and Brothers, as per tradition, I'm reporting to you all the things that NTUC has done, and indeed much has been done, but much more needs to be accomplished in the year ahead too. The immediate ground concern on the cost of living with the supply chain issues, increased food prices, increased energy prices, the cost of living, I know it's an impact to all.
I understand your concerns, and we as a whole of NTUC family will do our best to help you stretch your dollar. For a start, let me, this morning, just take a moment to be the Chief Marketing Officer for NTUC.
You know, we do a lot. But if I were to set a quiz for you on the things we do, I suspect most of us would not know. So let me try to just give you a quick articulation of what FairPrice has been doing. For Mondays, Pioneer Generations get 3% off when they shop. On Tuesdays, senior citizens 60 and above get 2%. On Wednesdays, Pioneer Generation and Merdeka Generation gets 3% off again. On Thursdays, the lower wage workers get 3% off if they have the blue CHAS card. And on Fridays, 5% off over 100 essential items in our supermarkets.
And on top of all these, if you do not realise for most of you sitting here being NTUC members, you get 2% rebate in cash and 2% rewards Link points as well. So, if we add up all the different privileges, you are stretching your dollar.
There are many more good deals, but I won't have the time to rattle off all of them to you. But one thing I do ask of all of you Sisters and Brothers, go out and know these different promotions, different ways of helping workers and spread the word. We do a lot, but we can definitely do better in letting our community, our residents, our Sisters and Brothers know, so that they can take advantage of all these deals. And beyond the supermarkets, if you have not heard, NTUC is also moving into the cooked food space.
We will be extending 10% savings to all our Kopitiam food courts progressively and all should be ready by end of 2022. So, when you eat at Kopitiam food court, you will have 10% savings and both in terms of cash rebates and also in LinkPoints. If you were to frequent our Kopitiam coffee shops and hawker centres, when you buy drinks from our drink kiosks, a 10% savings will be extended to you as well.
This new initiative, we hope to reach out to the 2.4 million or so NTUC members and NTUC Link members and I hope that all of you will take advantage of these possibilities. All you need to do is to pay via the NTUC FairPrice app. It is improved and is fast improving. And if you're not a Link member or NTUC member yet, simply download and you can start enjoying the 10% to stretch your dollar.
These are small gestures from NTUC, it pales in comparison to what Brother Lawrence Wong has supported us in the Budget, but it is a token of care that we have for you at NTUC. We'll do our very best to support you and to be alongside.
But just in case, for some of you that feedback to me that you do not know how to use the digital device to pay, after the Rally, please see your friendly Chief Marketing Officer, your Sec-Gen. I will either teach you on the spot or I will send you to the NTUC LearningHub to learn new digital skills.
COMPANY TRAINING COMMITTEES (CTC)
Beyond immediate cost concerns, we must now cast our vision further. Amidst all the different uncertainties, we must redouble our efforts to upskill our workers because this is the best way for us to hold down the rising cost of living impact and importantly, create better work prospects for all our Sisters and Brothers. NTUC will do so, leveraging the Company Training Committees (CTCs).
When we first innovated with the CTC three years ago, it was literally a start-up. We had no manpower, no resources. We had to find partners that were willing to come on board with us to try out this idea and see how it would work. And I'm happy that it is working. So even today, while we have over 900 CTCs, I humbly submit to all of us, whether in Government or employers that NTUC wants to do better with the CTCs. We want to partner you together with our workers to design more possibilities to create those ground impacts that will create better business and better wages.
CTCs are really like a baby growing up. Now, it is somewhat in form but needing much more nurturing to grow it into full fruition. And, talking about babies, let me take the opportunity to also bring in the government. Conversations about babies without the government is never complete.
So let me also take this opportunity to thank the Minister for Finance, Brother Lawrence Wong for affording NTUC $100 million in different grants for us to scale workforce transformation and to scale industry transformation. This will go a long way.
For our partner companies, the companies will be able to tap on $70 million in the new NTUC CTC grant to scale transformation. What it will mean to all Sisters and Brothers here, is that you will be upskilled, hopefully with better work prospects in the near term, and in the long term, in turn, better wages that can be sustained as the industry transform. And for my business friends and partners, what it means for you is that you will be able to up productivity, scale innovations, be able to do better business, attract better talents and be able to anchor for better business successes in the future. This will be a win-win for both.
And we aim to extend this grant to 1000 employers that could qualify in the next four years. NTUC and e2i will start taking applications in August. So, Brother Robert, you can start the queue.
The CTCs are making real progress and making real impact. When I first became Sec-Gen in 2018, Singapore Power (SP) Group and UPAGE were the first to sign up for trying out the CTCs in 2018. Since then, with a combination of employer emphasis, management emphasis, together with the union, UPAGE and SP has clocked more than 800,000 hours of training.
Today, 200 of those workers have real outcomes in terms of being promoted into heavier job responsibilities and earning better wages. 200 of them. And when I visited SP earlier this year, I met Brother Muhammad Yazid.
He joined SP in 2013 as a fresh grad out of school. In 2018 or 19, with the encouragement of CTC, he dared, he dreamt and he went ahead to upgrade under the sponsorship of SP Group. Today, Brother Yazid is a warehouse officer in charge of six people working together with him, in charge of warehouse operations. From a fresh storeman, now to a warehouse officer, partly due to the encouragement of our union leaders in the CTCs motivating and encouraging all our Sisters and Brothers to dare, to dream, and to do. Thank you to the management team at SP and UPAGE.
Even for a company that is deep in restructuring, the CTCs can make a difference. At Shell Singapore, and together with our SSEU Sisters and Brothers, Shell was repurposing its businesses towards a low carbon future. And that requires a lot of changes in the business. So together with NTUC and the union, we set up the Joint Capability Council (JCC) which is a CTC-equivalent.
In this, they created structured frameworks and programmes to equip Shell employees with future-ready skillsets matched to new requirements in a repurposed business. In tandem with business transformation, the JCC addressed training needs, redesigned certain jobs and importantly, nudged the workforce to move with the company's transformation so that they can be relevant and be able to stay in Shell. Many Brothers told me in Shell that they want to work for Shell because they have such an attachment to the company, working there for 10, 20 all the way up to 45 years, if I'm not mistaken. And now they have the opportunity through this CTC-like programme to be able to upskill, reskill, to stay relevant in the new Shell outlook for the future. So again, well done to my Shell employer partners and to all in SSEU.
Can I therefore simply appeal to all my employer partners here in the rally and to all our union leaders? Know that CTC, the structure of it, has within it all the ingredients for success. I hope you'll embrace the CTC. If you've not set up one, give NTUC and our leaders a chance to partner you so that we can affect industry transformation together with workforce transformation for the win-win that PM spoke about. If you’ve not set up, please approach one of us today and enquire about CTCs.
CONCLUSION
Let me now conclude: In these uncertain times ahead, there will be many new challenges. But through it all, in the Labour Movement, reminds ourselves to always anchor firmly to advance the interests of workers and create a better life for them.
We must refresh our workers compact in order to do that - to know the new generation’s worries, especially in those segments that are underserved. We must bring the whole-of-integrated strengths of NTUC – what we called the W.I.N strategy, to bear on these issues, to brainstorm, co-create solutions with our workers, with our employment partners, and importantly, with our government. Together with the government, we must strengthen tripartism as a uniquely Singaporean competitive advantage. And as we saw in COVID-19, the strength of tripartism afforded us the wherewithal to respond swiftly to take care of workers and in the 24 months – we not only responded but overcame. Let us treasure this tripartism, and leverage this tripartism on the way ahead to create better lives and livelihoods for our workers. And finally, I would like to assure the Prime Minister that NTUC will strengthen the symbiotic relationship with the PAP simply because it is good for the country, it is good for workers and it will create win-win outcomes for all of us. Each generation of PAP leadership has taken pains to know NTUC’s needs better and we will likewise, give the PAP the assurance that NTUC will stand shoulder to shoulder with the PAP leadership so that we can do the very best for our country and for workers alike.
And as we all know, Brother Lawrence Wong was recently endorsed as the leader of the 4G team. I too, walked up to Lawrence when we were notified on the outcome and I shook his hands and I said to Brother Lawrence that well, I suppose this is congratulations, knowing the heavy responsibilities that he will have to shoulder but at the same breath, I told him as Sec-Gen NTUC, we will give him the fullest support for the success of the PAP Government, for our workers.
He is really no stranger to many of us on the ground. He has been making his rounds engaging different workers across different forums. And in my many meetings with Lawrence each and every time, I will sincerely tell you that he would often ask me what he can do more for our Sisters and Brothers. And as you can see, the first step was the $100 million or so of grants to scale our efforts and in his different capacities, I know he will do more for the Labour Movement. So now it's opportune time for me to invite Brother Lawrence to address this Rally since this is your first engagement.
So, before I end, Brother Lawrence, let me just wish all Sisters and Brothers here today and online - a very Happy May Day. Let us strengthen tripartism together because #everyworkermatters!
