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The NTUC U Care Centre (UCC) commenced operations in November 2013 to serve as the one-stop centre for low-wage workers in Singapore. It has actively reached out to educate and inform low-wage workers of their employment rights and opportunities to live better lives.
Through its engagements with workers, UCC identified that the participation rate of the Malay-Muslim community could be enhanced. It aims to create more awareness among the community on ways to scale up their employability and knowledge on workplace rights.
Progress in 2015
Last year, UCC commenced working with the Enhanced Mosque Clusters and has reached out to about 11,000 low-wage workers in the Malay-Muslim community. Seminars and learning journeys have been actively organised and customised for low-income beneficiaries to equip them with the knowledge to improve their lives.
UCC conducted about 30 customised workshops for staff, befrienders and low-income beneficiaries of the six clusters. The sessions were bite-sized and held within the mosques in both Malay and English languages; some of these sessions were held alongside signature events of the clusters, like family days and anniversary celebrations.
Outreach sessions through booth set-ups were also organised after Friday prayers at designated mosques, especially those situated in neighbourhoods with a high concentration of rental blocks, housing lower-income workers and their families.
Workers in the community who are now U Care members have better access to information on their workplace rights and are aware of where they can seek help for better training opportunities. Members can participate in U Care seminars and job fairs that are held across the island throughout the year.
New Partnerships
In 2016, while it continues its outreach efforts with the mosques, UCC is expanding its efforts to engage a wider spectrum of workers in the Malay-Muslim community. Hence, for the first time, it is working with Malay-Muslim organisations (MMOs) to hype up these efforts.
This year, expanding its outreach efforts with Enhanced Mosque Clusters and Mendaki SENSE, UCC has formed new partnerships with MMOs like the Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP), Pertapis, AIN Society and Jamiyah Singapore, to name some.
Similar to the approaches with Enhanced Mosque Clusters, UCC is working with the MMOs to engage low-income Malay-Muslim families by tapping on their extensive range of programmes.
UCC has customised programmes and workshops to suit the varying needs of the clients of MMOs – the low-income beneficiaries. These include sessions similar to UCC’s existing U Care seminars, which are packaged with information on employment rights and SkillsFuture.
In the first half of 2016, UCC has commenced working with some of these MMOs. The Centre has run customised mini-workshops for the social workers and staff at AMP as well as low-income families of Jamiyah Singapore. UCC will continue organising more of such customised workshops with other MMOs to impart essential knowledge on skills training and basic employment rights such as the right to request for key employment terms (KETs) and payslips.
In tandem with these efforts, UCC will continue its collaborations with Enhanced Mosque Clusters. This year, the Centre is focusing on ramping up efforts with South East Mosque Cluster. It has commenced on working with all 13 mosques under the Cluster, and has tied up with the Clusters’ youth units to reach out to part-time workers in the community.
Madam Rohana Bte Atah Chik, who is now a U Care member, is one of the beneficiaries at SEMC. She learnt about UCC from one of the customised workshops held at Al-Ansar Mosque last year. She has been out of employment for several years due to health reasons. After signing up to become a member through the workshop, she was motivated to re-enter the workforce.
Upon invitation from UCC, she attended a U Care roadshow at Bedok North which included a job fair. Despite being out of the workforce for many years, she attended several job interviews on-site and gained some confidence to step back into the workforce. Today, she is working part-time as a food stall assistant. Her health is gradually improving and UCC Consultants are constantly following up with her, to encourage and walk with her on this journey towards a better life.
Said NTUC Assistant Secretary-General and UCC Director Mr Zainal Sapari: “We believe that UCC has the potential to reach out to many more local low-wage workers across all sectors and communities. We saw some success working with Enhanced Mosque Clusters. Therefore, we wish to partner more organisations like MMOs to impact more workers in the lower-income brackets.”
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