Because of the current downturn, the top priority of the NTUC remains that of retaining as many jobs as possible and helping the retrenched to find jobs. Job matching is a key programme of the NTUC. For this purpose, we are setting up a separate department to do job matching.
Previously, the job matching was done by our Skills Development Department with some officers that we roped in to assist. But we have decided that we will do this in a department and develop our skills along the way to do a more effective job. We think we are well placed to do this well because of the network of contacts that our staff have with the employers -- both the senior management staff as well as the HR managers of different companies. The nature of the work of an Industrial Relations Officer requires the person to have inter-personal skills and be able to understand the psychology of the retrenched. At the same time, because they have been dealing with workplace issues, they understand the problems that the employers face in the recruitment of local staff. So that is the top priority of the NTUC.
There are a number of other things that will be on our agenda.
The Economic Review Committee is soliciting views on the different aspects of national policies with a view to changing whatever we need to. And the NTUC has several people who are involved in the Economic Review Committee, either in the main committee or in the working groups that have been formed.
Some of the things that we will review will be further flexibility in our wage system, so that we can better cope with the ups and downs of business cycles. We have already built in a system that I believe is more flexible than most countries. But nevertheless because of the faster changes in business cycles, we should examine how we can make our wage system even more flexible.
There will be other things that we will review and that will be the cost of doing business. We will participate in discussions and comment on any of the issues that may be brought up by the employers.
This downturn has also highlighted the importance of representation for executives. For the past few years, we have been working hard to represent the executives. And to represent them, not by forming separate unions for them, but to allow them to be included in the same rank-and-file union. So that with one union in the workplace, it is easier to look at the whole picture and take everybody's interest into account when they deal with industrial relations issues. The agreement has already been reached with the employers and government. And it remains for the legislation to be put in place.
We were disrupted by the GE and the opening of Parliament and so forth. So I think this will probably be in the second half of this year. Once this is in place, we hope that we can push for a higher membership figure than currently is the case.
I think at the present moment we have approximately 350,000 members. When the legislation is in place, we will look towards breaking the 400,000 mark in the next couple of years.
The NTUC new building or new HQ of the NTUC -- the project is underway and we expect to do some ground-breaking this year. And if the schedule is kept, we expect that the new HQ of the NTUC will be ready in the first half of 2004.
