Increased wages and value-added productivity growth over the last two years in the security sector show that the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) helps businesses and workers’ wages grow sustainably.
In comparison, the minimum wage faces the difficulty of justifying a sustainable and reasonable outcome for both businesses and workers.
NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng reiterated the Labour Movement’s position regarding the two wage models in his speech at the AETOS Complex on 23 September 2020.
He was there to witness the company training committee (CTC) agreement signing between AETOS and the Union of Security Employees (USE).
“The security sector has, with PWM, over the last two years seen wage increases of 13.6 per cent, and value-added productivity growth in the sector has been very encouraging too,” he said.
Mr Ng added that the PWM, when applied in different sectors where stakeholders recognise market forces, can be a win-win situation for both companies and workers.
“That, in my view, is the most sustainable and productive manner where the ecosystem can progress together,” he said.
Meanwhile, the CTC between AETOS and USE aims to upskill and deepen the core competencies of some 1,000 security officers.
The company and union will work together to prepare and equip AETOS security officers with expanded competencies to complement their security skillsets.
Other than leveraging technology to achieve better security outcomes, officers will be trained with new skills like basic facility management as well as the horizontal built environment sector skills.
“To AETOS, our competitive edge in providing integrated and future-ready services stems from putting our people first,” said AETOS Holdings Executive Director and CEO Alfred Fox.
The company aims to retain the experience of their more mature officers as they are equipped with future-ready skills, according to AETOS.
Mr Fox added that the company intends to raise the retirement age and re-employment age ahead of national schedule for its security officers to 65 and 70 respectively.
Doing its part to improve the security sector, USE developed a three-tier CTC structure to help security companies encourage their customers to adopt outcome-based contracting – a first of its kind.
The first tier is to “train and place” security officers by providing them with training in basic licensing units; SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace (Security); and basic facility management enabler units.
Doing so would allow officers to be seamlessly placed into good agencies, along with funding support for recruits for three to four months.
The second tier provides security officers with “cluster integrated skills” during their train and place, including Fundamentals of Building Services & Safety; Basic Lift Rescue Management; as well as certification in Company Emergency Response Team (CERT) Fire Safety.
The third tier provides “customised” training, depending on the service buyer’s site requirements.
On transforming the security sector, USE General Secretary Raymond Chin said that the union has been working closely with various players from the industry.
He said: “Through the introduction of the PWM in 2014 to the current focus on driving outcome-based contracting, our vision is to ensure better work prospects and better wages for our officers.
“This CTC is our first step with our unionised agency AETOS towards that end.”
