NTUC's response to National Wages Council's Guidelines (2009/2010)
3 June 2009
Media Statement
1 When the National Wages Council (NWC) issued its guidelines in January 2009, the Ministry of Trade and Industry forecasted Singapore’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2009 to drop between 2% to 5%. In April 2009, taking into account first quarter performance, the forecast was further revised downwards – the economy is projected to shrink between 6% to 9%. Meanwhile, the labour market softened, with the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rising from 2.5% in December 2008 to 3.2% in March 2009.
2 The rise in the unemployment rate has been less steep than the fall in GDP because of the many measures that the tripartite partners have adopted to help both companies and workers. Chief among these were the Jobs Credit scheme, Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR), Tripartite Guidelines on Managing Excess Manpower and the relentless efforts of entities like NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) and the Community Development Councils to retrain and place job seekers into work.
3 The external environment continues to be volatile and uncertain. While the rate of decline in the second quarter may be less than that in the first, no one can say for sure that the economic downturn has bottomed out, much less that the recovery has begun. The third quarter is still unpredictable.
4 In this situation, it is right to be cautious. We must stay the course to save jobs for workers and prepare for the economic upturn. The Labour Movement believes that if we stop cutting costs to save jobs now, retrenchments will go up. And if we stop retraining workers and placing them into jobs, unemployment will rise.
5 The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) therefore fully supports the NWC guidelines for 2009/2010. These guidelines remind both companies and workers to remain vigilant and press on with efforts to upturn this downturn.
6 Companies should make judicious use of the flexible wage system and variable wage components to manage wage costs and match rewards to performance in a sustainable way. They should also continue to reduce their non-wage costs and tap on SPUR to upgrade company competitiveness and their workers’ employability. Management must lead by example in these efforts, especially during these trying times, as workers look to management to do the right things to keep the company running and to save their jobs.
7 Workers, too, must do their part to make sure that they take advantage of opportunities to invest actively in their own employability and careers, and to stay the course in going for skills upgrading and training. These will help enhance their skills level and productivity, and ensure that they continue to stay relevant to their companies’ manpower needs.
8 We also urge the Government to continue helping companies reduce non-wage costs and have access to adequate credit.
9 NTUC also call on companies to persist with the re-employment of older workers, helping women return to work, helping low-wage contract and informal workers, and improving productivity to raise the workforce’s competitiveness. These efforts address structural manpower issues in our economy and will benefit companies and workers immensely in both the short and long term.
10 As we unite through tripartism to tackle this crisis with fairness and fortitude, we will strengthen trust and come through together stronger than ever.
Heng Chee How
Deputy Secretary-General, National Trades Union Congress and
Member, National Wages Council
