by Naseema Banu Maideen
Keeping its vision of staying relevant to the changing landscape of Singapore’s workforce, the Labour Movement has stepped forward with its wish list of changes to be made in the Employment Act (EA). With the last deck of changes made to the EA in 2008, NTUC proposes key changes in two major areas - an increased scope of coverage to protect PMEs (Professionals, Managers and Executives) and better protection for the vulnerable groups of workers.
After thorough consultations with unions, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Cham Hui Fong and NTUC Legal Services Department and PME Unit Director Patrick Tay unveiled this at a press briefing held at NTUC Centre on 9 November 2012.
If this proposal gets through, it will be a breakthrough as currently there is no recourse for this group under the EA, as shared by Mr Tay. There are about 630,000 resident PMEs in the workforce, with the numbers likely to increase.
Mr Tay noted that the median monthly salaries have increased since the latest amendments were made. This has spurred NTUC to lobby for changes in Part IV of the EA, which provides for rest days, hours of work and other conditions of service.
This clause only applies to workmen earning not more than $4,500 in basic monthly salaries and to employees earning not more than $2,000 basic monthly salaries.
NTUC calls for the salary ceiling of non-workmen to be increased from the current $2,000 so that more workers can enjoy Part IV of the EA’s benefits. This will not affect existing workers who are currently covered by Part IV.
NTUC lobbies for employment contracts and pay slips for low-wage workers, retrenchment benefits for workers with less than three years of service, better protection of workers who had a transfer of employment (under Section 18A) and greater clarity on hours of work and rest for shift workers, as well as recognition by employers for medical certificates from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners.
The Labour Movement is also proposing enhancing other areas of protection for workers, such as better protection for outsourced workers, short-term contract staff and freelancers. It also calls for more refinements on priority of claims of salaries and wages, retrenchment benefits and ex-gratia when a company winds up.
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