The recent spotlight on the interests of foreign workers in Singapore has raised many questions on areas such as their welfare and rights.
At a press briefing today, NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say highlighted four categories that impact them and the Labour Movement’s approaches to these areas.
Joining him in addressing these concerns were NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Cham Hui Fong, Migrant Workers Centre (MWC) Chairman Yeo Guat Kwang and National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) Executive Secretary Ong Chin Ang.
In one of the areas, it was highlighted that while legislation and mechanisms are in place to offer sufficient protection to foreign workers in Singapore, the challenge lies in raising greater awareness of these sources of help.
MWC, for instance, has helped 4,500 workers to fully resolve their grievances. In addition to these, for workers who want additional services, unions have been reaching out to them to serve them at their best.
In another area, union and management can do more to take better care of these foreign workers. They can adopt better engagement, share best practices and strengthen Labour-Management Relations to reach out to the foreign workers.
There are now 125,000 foreign workers who are union members. The unions represent them in areas of wages, welfare, workplace and grievance.
The press briefing also touched on equal remuneration for the foreign workers. The Labour Movement, while concerned and uncomfortable with this call for ‘equal pay for same job’, believes in fair and reasonable wages, taking into consideration the costs of living across various countries, the level of expertise and experience for foreign workers.
In the area of managing our dependency on foreign workers, the Labour Movement said it was important, working together with tripartite partners, to sustain and maintain the ratio of foreign workers in Singapore to about 1 in 3.
Ways must also be found to meet the needs of the economy so that Singapore can remain attractive for investments and business competitiveness.
The only way that this can happen is to make better use of every worker and pay every worker better, and by helping workers make their jobs easier and smarter.
