It is inevitable that some industries in Singapore may eventually start to hollow out, and when that happens it is important that the workers are prepared. At the Chemical Industries Employees' Union (CIEU) Annual Tripartite Forum on 10 February 2012, CIEU Executive Secretary Cham Hui Fong encouraged participants to give feedback on areas where the relevant partners can help to equip workers so that they will not be left in the lurch.
Rachel Leong, Head of Chemicals from the Economic Development Board (EDB), explained that while it is critical for companies in Singapore to evolve over time, that does not necessarily equate to moving out of Singapore.
It largely consists of upgrading the companies to ensure that their activities that stay in Singapore effectively leverage on the strength of the country. She said: “So the question is, how do we help companies to evolve because it’s not easy to restructure.”
NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) Deputy Chief Executive Officer Gilbert Tan also re-affirmed NTUC's e2i’s commitment to help companies and workers with its broad based range of support, and encouraged the attendees to engage NTUC's e2i especially in areas of being a more competitive company, retraining skilled and productive local workers to maintain a local core and achieving inclusive growth and ensuring that workers do not get left behind in the growth.
Participants at the forum also had the chance to know more about the Manufacturing Resilient Tripartite Programme (MERP) from NTUC's e2i and the outlook for the chemicals industry beyond 2012 from EDB.
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"With the uncertain business conditions posed by the weak US and Europe economic conditions, we understand that some companies might be facing great challenges in the coming months. Therefore, we decided to arrange with EDB and our e2i partners to brief us on the impending economic climate, as well as measures that we could take to cushion the impact on our companies and ultimately our workers.”
CIEU President Rajendran Govindarajoo
