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NTUC has launched a public engagement exercise, titled #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations. This was announced at a dialogue hosted by NTUC President Mary Liew and Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng for over 100 union leaders on 11 August 2022. This year-long public engagement exercise aims to reach out to at least 20,000 in Singapore of all ages, collars and sectors to hear their views around work, and refresh NTUC’s compact with workers.
Background to #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations
The institution of tripartism has underpinned Singapore’s economic transformation and progress. For decades, NTUC has championed workers’ interests and collaborated with tripartite partners to reach strong employment, business and national economic outcomes. Through this process, NTUC has established a strong foundation of trust with workers, employers and the government.
NTUC has also evolved to keep pace with shifts in our workforce profiles and national economic agenda. We have created new associations representing professionals, managers and executives (PMEs), taxi drivers, freelancers, content creators and platform workers. We have also made significant investments in training and placement through the creation of Company Training Committees and NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute). These moves were necessary for NTUC to remain relevant and better service Singapore and Singaporeans.
Yet the Singapore economy now stands at an inflection point. Remaining open and connected to the global economy has created growth and steadily rising incomes. But the world is becoming more uncertain, with rapid advances in technology, intensified competition, and new ways of working impacting firms and workers.
Singapore’s demographics and workforce profile are also changing, as smaller families and an ageing population have new needs. A whole new generation of Singaporeans less familiar with NTUC’s historic role have grown up and entered the workforce. Our workers’ aspirations are also shifting, even as they experience fresh anxieties over livelihoods and the future. It is against this backdrop that NTUC is launching the Conversations. (Please see attached letter from NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng elaborating on these challenges.)
The Conversations also build on NTUC’s longstanding efforts to engage workers to understand and champion their needs, including the recent PME Taskforce and the newly launched Youth Taskforce. During May Day this year, NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng also shared our intent to refresh and strengthen our compact with workers, and find ways to meet their new needs and challenges . The Conversations is the platform through which we intend to achieve this.
Details of #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations
Through #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations, NTUC seeks to understand the concerns, priorities, and aspirations of workers, and how NTUC can support them in their working lives. NTUC will also examine how our unions, associations and social enterprises must evolve in responding to the feedback and findings gathered.
NTUC aims to engage a wide spectrum of Singaporeans across life stages and socio-economic statuses – including PMEs, the self-employed and working parents, among others – through dialogue, focus group discussions and surveys. The NTUC Youth Taskforce forms part of these Conversations.
NTUC wants to examine (a) what key enablers will aid workers to succeed in their careers, (b) what assurances workers need across their life stages whether as a youth making the school-to-work transition, a young family with children to look after, or a caregiver with elderly parents and (c) what protections we must put in place for the more vulnerable segments of workers in society.
For example, what is the impact of greater economic volatility on retirement adequacy? Should the retrenched get financial support while they search for a new job and how do we preserve our strong work ethic? As the Singapore economy undergoes a green transition and digitalisation, how can workers get the needed training to keep current and achieve career progression? How can greater caregiving needs be better supported so workers can focus on their jobs? And how can we set up our youths for long-term career success? More questions could surface through the Conversations and we remain open to hear what key issues should form this workers compact.
The Conversations will take a three-phase approach: The first phase will take a divergent approach and will run from now until end-2022 in which NTUC will engage the public to hear their views on the compact with workers. The second phase starting in 2023 will take a convergent approach where we will organise a series of policy workshops with tripartite partners, institutions of higher learning, civic society organisations, HR practitioners and other partner organisations to crystalise recommendations and concrete suggestions on how the workers compact can be strengthened.
In the third phase, NTUC will look at surfacing findings from earlier phases and release our recommendations by mid 2023. This entails working with 4G leaders and government policymakers through Forward Singapore. As Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong recently highlighted at NTUC’s Youth Taskforce launch in July, a strong Labour Movement has always anchored Singapore’s social compact and if Singapore is to continue flourishing in the years to come, a revitalised Labour Movement is key and NTUC must continue to be the voice and champion of workers.
Through #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations, NTUC invites workers to share their aspirations for work. NTUC also invites employers, government and partner organisations who play crucial roles in realising this compact to partner us in these engagements. In doing so, one thing remains constant - NTUC will continue to champion for better wages, welfare and work prospects for our workers.
NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng said, “NTUC is calling on all working people in Singapore to come sketch out Singapore’s desired future of work. This will not be an easy conversation. It will require discussions on trade-offs and sacrifices. But NTUC is committing to walking this journey with every working person and championing their interests. Through #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations, NTUC will ensure that our workers’ voices are heard. We aim to put forth valuable feedback and useful recommendations that will shape policies with workers’ interests at its core. After all, workers are at the heart of our nation’s progress.”
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