The National Trades Union Congress’ (NTUC) family development unit, U Family, and Women’s Development Secretariat (WDS) welcome the enhanced Marriage and Parenthood Package announced by the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) today.
The latest initiatives by the Government to create a pro-family environment and enhancing work-life integration are modernised approaches in tackling the new economic challenges. They recognise fathers’ role in primary care-giving of their babies and transform opportunities and choices for fathers and mothers to share their parenting duties according to individual needs. This is a significant milestone in promoting work-life harmony in working families.
At the same time, these measures place importance on the protection of employment of women during their pregnancy and the needs of babies. The Labour Movement notes the wide consultation with employers and various communities and their inputs. We are happy that the Government sees parenting and family as important parts of life-building and nation-building.
U Family, after consultation with our working families, submitted its recommendations in August and again in October 2012 to build a pro-family and pro-creation Singapore. We understand that it may be difficult to endorse all the recommendations with the current manpower and economic challenges, and support the latest initiatives as they are changes in the right direction.
Changes Proposed by the NTUC Accepted by the Government
We are glad that the following, which the Labour Movement had recommended to NPTD, have been accepted by the Government in the new package:
| What NTUC Proposed Earlier | Changes to the M&P Package | |
| i. |
NTUC proposed that to enable fathers to play an active role in parenting especially during the initial period after the baby is born, the Government could consider granting 2 weeks of paid paternity leave that may be used flexibly and shared with the mother in the baby’s first year.
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Government-Paid Paternity Leave for fathers
Working fathers will be entitled to 1 week of paid paternity leave.
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| ii. |
We proposed that the current 4 days of childcare leave in CDCA be extended to parents with children who are below 12 years old instead of limiting it to parents with children who are up to 7 years old.
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Government-Paid Child Care Leave for Parents of Children Aged 7-12
Both parents have 2 days of paid child care leave per year if they have at least one child aged 7-12.
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| iii. |
This was one of the benefits that the Labour Movement has been actively pushing for during our discussions with the Government. We are indeed heartened by this move, as this signals that Singapore is moving towards an inclusive workforce.
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Government-Paid Maternity Benefit (GPMB) to allow working women who do not currently qualify for any maternity leave (e.g. shorter-term contract workers) to enjoy the Government-paid share of maternity leave in the form of cash benefit.
Working mothers who are not eligible for maternity leave may apply to receive the GPMB as long as they have been in employment for at least 90 days in the 12 months leading up to childbirth.
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| iv. |
The NTUC hoped the Government subsidise up to 80% of the total In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) cost for up to 3 cycles. We however had also asked there be greater accessibility to fertility treatments by cutting down the waiting time for couples.
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Enhanced Government co-funding for Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) treatments
The Government will co-fund up to 75% of the cost of each ART treatment, with co-funding extended to 3 fresh and 3 frozen cycles. Couple with more than one child will also be eligible for co-funding.
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| v. |
We had pushed for a national insurance coverage for congenital defects in newborns, as well as make the cost of insurance for pregnancy related complications lower.
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MediShield to be extended to cover congenital and neonatal conditions, to take effect from 1 Mar 2013, at the same time as other broader changes to MediShield
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| vi. | NTUC has been proposing that a sum of $3,000 be contributed into the Child Development Account (CDA) as start-up funding to help the lower-income workers who wish to start a family. | Enhanced Baby Bonus Cash Gift of $6,000 per child for the first two births, and $8,000 per child for the third/fourth births |
While Shared Parental Leave will benefit working fathers, we hope that in the future working mothers can look forward to longer maternity leave of 6 months paid by the Government and if possible, up to another 6 months unpaid maternity leave. This is important as we believe mothers should be given the opportunity to exclusive breastfeed her baby for at least 6 months and this will encourage working mothers to return to work.
NTUC has earlier recommended to the Government to introduce a legislated right to request for Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA). We had proposed that this right be extended to all parents, especially to parents with children with special needs or very young children. We note that this recommendation has not been included in the new package. NTUC will continue to engage our unionised companies to educate employers and line managers so that the community as a whole can embrace FWA. We still hope that the right to FWA could be put into a set of Tripartite Guidelines, with the initial focus on employers with larger workforce sizes and their employees.
Overall, the Labour Movement is happy that many of our major recommendations have been adopted by the Government. We look forward to seeing more of our other recommendations coming through, as the Government makes further announcements on pro-family and pro-creation policy changes in due course. The Labour Movement will continue to engage and work closely with our tripartite partners to introduce more pro-family measures and address the practical problems working families face in parenthood.
Cham Hui Fong (Ms)
Assistant Secretary-General
National Trades Union Congress
Champion for Women and Family
