OUTREACH ROAD SHOWS FOR LOW-WAGE CONTRACT AND CASUAL WORKERS
17 November 2007
Media Release
1. The Unit for Contract and Casual Workers (UCCW) of National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), supported by the NTUC family, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB) and various constituencies, is organising a series of road shows to reach out to low-wage contract and casual workers nation-wide with a package of programmes and schemes to enhance their employment and employability, protection, financial assurance, and welfare benefits.
2. This series of road shows completes the engagement of all parties in the Best Sourcing Initiatives (BSI) business eco-system[1]. When all parties in the BSI eco-system engage in the good practice of best sourcing, value returns will be achieved and everyone benefits from it.
3. With the current trend of outsourcing, there is an increasing pool of contract and casual workers. From 2001 to 2004, statistics show a 19% increase in the contract and casual workforce. In 2006, 172,000 (12%) of Singapore’s resident employees are on term contracts[2]. The low-wage contract and casual workers form the lowest, yet increasingly large, stratum of the labour force; and in line with the labour movement’s vision to be an inclusive movement that takes care of working people of all collars, including the no collar workers, UCCW aims to provide protection and welfare to the contract and casual workers enjoyed by workers on permanent positions.
Improved Working Life - Employment and Employability
4. Statutory Rights and Benefits. Local contract and casual workers, who are employees and meet the stipulated employment period, have the same employment statutory rights and are entitled to the same statutory benefits as local full-time workers in areas such as contractual working hours, rest days, holidays; and entitlements to sick and annual leave etc. It is pertinent that contract and casual workers are aware of their rights so that if it is violated, they could seek redress with the relevant authorities to address the violations. During the road shows, Ministry of Manpower will share with low-wage workers their statutory rights and benefits under the Employment Act. This augments previous engagement sessions with the buyers and service providers that aim to increase their compliance to the employment law as they have a better understanding of employers’ statutory obligations under the Employment Act.
5. Training Needs Assessment and Opportunities. The NTUC Employment Enhancement Department (EED) partners with NTUC LearningHub Private Limited to provide training advice and programmes to low-wage workers so that with better skills, they can get better jobs and better pay. NTUC Employability Coaches at the EED Booth will conduct skills assessment on workers to identify their training needs and recommend appropriate training programmes. This addresses the key challenge faced by low-wage workers in upgrading their skills - limited access to training information, low awareness level of training opportunities, and lack of knowledge on how to enroll for training courses.
6. Job Placements. A total number of about 300 job positions were offered by five organisations[3] in the security, cleaning and landscaping industries. Workers who take up job offers at the road shows are assured of full staff benefits and fair employment terms by the participating organisations; and the National Parks Board, coordinating the recruitment for the landscape industry, ensures that recruited landscape technicians are paid a decent wage.
Enhanced Living - Financial Assurance, Protection and Welfare Benefits
7. Workfare Income Supplement. To receive the first payment of Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) on 1 January 2008, low-wage workers can conveniently register themselves as Self-Employed Persons and make contributions to their Central Provident Fund (CPF) Medisave accounts at the road shows as, for the first time, the CPFB is bringing the CPF m-Ambassador Service to the heartland. This service enables CPF m-Ambassadors to serve customers using Ultra Mobile Personal Computers. The m-Ambassador Service has great potential to move CPF services to the next lap; as no longer confined to CPF Service Centres, CPFB can now bring its services to the elderly, disabled or underprivileged customers - the people who need CPF Services most.
8. Financial Planning. First Principal Financial Pte Ltd, an independent financial advisory firm, will provide specific advice to low-income residents for better management of income to optimise savings for rainy days and be financially assured for old age. Financial advisors will bring the residents through cash flow analysis and spending plan to identify key areas of expenditure to better control expenses for more effective asset accumulation.
9. LUV Insurance Plan. For the first time, NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative Limited is expanding the reach of their low-cost, high-protection term insurance plan - LUV Plan, to low-wage workers as it fulfils its social mission and contributes to the well-being of the low-income working group. Low-wage workers may take up the LUV Plan by becoming UCCW member with a low monthly fee of $1. With monthly premiums starting from 70 cents per $10,000 coverage, and an expandable coverage of up to $200,000 at monthly premium of $18.00[4], it is a highly affordable and comprehensive insurance plan for low-wage workers.
10. Social Welfare & Benefits. At the road shows, low-wage workers may sign up to become UCCW members to benefit from an entire range of welfare benefits that take care of their health care and medical, training and living needs. The Chinese Development Assistance Council is also on site to offer advice on social benefits that resident may apply.
About the Outreach Road Shows
11. UCCW kicked start the first road show at Whampoa Community Club from 17 to 22 November 2007 at the Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency (GRC). To inform and encourage attendance to the outreach road shows so that more low-wage contract and casual workers can benefit from the entire range of programmes, UCCW undertook intensive publicity efforts with four-language mail drop flyers in every household, pinned-up posters on the notice boards of every residential flat, and over 3,000 house visits by the grassroots leaders of Whampoa Constituency with one-to-one explanation on the road shows.
12. Besides attending talks conducted in different languages on different days[5], residents can visit a mini exhibition area to learn more about WIS and UCCW’s outreach programmes. Residents can also visit booths for job placements, training opportunities, financial planning advice and signing up onto the CPF scheme for WIS and other social benefits at the road shows.
13. Minister of State for Ministry of Health, Member of Parliament for Jalan Besar GRC and Deputy Secretary-General of NTUC, Mr Heng Chee How was the Guest-of- Honour at the official launch of the road show on 17 November 2007 at Whampoa Community Club. The road shows would be rolled out to other constituencies in 2008 to reach out to more low-wage workers in other parts of the nation, in collaboration with the respective constituencies. It is targeted for the road shows to reach another five constituencies in the first half of 2008.
14. “This is the final touch point of the Best Sourcing Initiatives where we aim to educate workers on their statutory rights, engage them in various training and benefits schemes, and encourage them to contribute to their central provident funds to enjoy the Workfare Income Supplements,” said Mah Cheong Fatt, Head of UCCW, NTUC. He added, “As an inclusive labour movement, we want to provide protection and welfare to the low-wage workers, and we decide to reach out to them by going out to them rather than waiting for them to approach us. By proactively approaching them and using their language to explain the protection and welfare initiatives to them, we believe the workers will benefit greatly from our outreach strategies.”
Mr Mah Cheong Fatt
Head, Unit for Contract and Casual Workers
National Trades Union Congress
[1] In August 2007, a Best Sourcing Initiatives Seminar was organised for Buyers; in October 2007, a series of Best Sourcing Initiatives workshops were organised for Service Providers.
[2] Source: Labour Force Report 2006, Ministry of Manpower.
[3] The organisations are Apro-Asian Protection Pte Ltd, Premier Security Co-operative Ltd, Prosec Services Pte Ltd, VS Aircraft Interior Maintenance Specialist Pte Ltd, and National Parks Board.
[4] Basic plan for someone who is 19 to 45 years old on the next birthday.
[5] Mandarin sessions 17 Nov 9am - 1pm
19 Nov & 21 Nov 7pm - 10pm
English session 20 Nov 7pm - 10pm
Malay and Tamil session 22 Nov 7pm - 10pm
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About National Trades Union Congress
The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) is a national confederation of trade unions in the industrial, service and public sectors representing 500,000 workers in Singapore. NTUC comprises 63 affiliated unions, 6 affiliated taxi associations, 9 co-operatives and 6 related organisations. NTUC’s objectives are to help Singapore stay competitive and workers remain employable for life; to enhance the social status and well-being of workers; and to build a strong, responsible and caring labour movement. NTUC's vision is to be an inclusive labour movement for all collars, all ages and all nationalities. For more details on NTUC, please visit our website at www.ntuc.org.sg
About Unit for Contract and Casual Workers
Setup in June 2006, it was then called Unit for Contract Workers with the objective to assist lower income contract workers in areas relating to employability, medical benefits and fair employment terms. With an increasing trend of more contract and casual workers in the labour scene, it was renamed to Unit for Contract and Casual Workers in August 2007 to enhance the economic and social well-being of the low-wage contract and casual workforce by communicating and advocating the adoption of Best Sourcing Initiatives by all stakeholders, enhancing the workers’ welfare in areas of medical needs and insurance needs, as well as ensuring that workers remain gainfully employable for life with skills upgrading, re-training or job expansion and re-design.
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