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Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, NTUC has been keeping a close watch on the situation and has been reviewing the May Day celebrations events that were originally scheduled to take place from late April till June. In line with tightened COVID-19 circuit breaker measures, NTUC will be doing things differently across our key May Day events.
May Day Rally
This year, NTUC will not be holding a physical May Day Rally event. Instead, Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong will be delivering his May Day Message on 30 April 2020, Thursday, at 7.30 pm. PM’s May Day Message will be simulcast across national television, and streamed via the respective social media channels for workers, union leaders, employers, Government officials and Singaporeans to tune in, from the comfort of their homes. This includes Prime Minister Office’s Facebook page and YouTube, and NTUC Singapore’s Facebook page and YouTube. [Refer to Annex A for details]
Traditionally, every year, more than 1,500 Labour Movement leaders and tripartite partners would gather at NTUC’s signature event, May Day Rally, to reaffirm their commitment to advance the interests of our workers. This year, in a similar show of solidarity, union leaders, including representatives from NTUC U Associate; NTUC U SME (small and medium enterprises); NTUC U FSE (freelancers and self-employed); NTUC communities; employers; and government leaders will be participating in a closed-door virtual dialogue session helmed by NTUC President Mary Liew, NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng, together with Manpower Minister Josephine Teo and Singapore National Employers Federation President Dr Robert Yap. The dialogue session, which will take place after PM Lee delivers his May Day Message, will kick-off with a short, pre-recorded video greeting by PM Lee to tripartite representatives at the dialogue session. Some 500 participants are expected to tune into the dialogue session remotely.
All Other May Day Events
Similarly, NTUC has decided to make the following changes to the respective May Day events:
a. May Day Awards
The awards ceremony to honour individuals, companies and tripartite partners who have made significant contributions to better the wages, welfare and work prospects of workers will be cancelled. Alternative arrangements to honour this year’s awardees will be advised on a later date.
b. May Day Migrant Workers Celebration
The use of online platforms will be explored to appreciate the contributions of our foreign workers.
c. May Day Domestic Employees Celebration
Engagements to appreciate the contributions of our domestic employees in taking care of our families have been moved to online platforms.
d. May Day Fiesta
This celebratory event, in the form of recreational activities for our union members and their families will not be held this year.
May Day 2020 Organising Chairperson, NTUC Assistant Director-General Vivek Kumar said, “These are unusual times that call for an extraordinary display of spirit and gumption, whether from our union leaders and workers, to our tripartite partners, and even the May Day 2020 organising committee. While we will be celebrating May Day 2020 differently this year, I am heartened that the spirit of wanting to come together to serve our workers, and to show our solidarity as tripartite partners remains very strong. We stand in solidarity with our workers in these difficult times.”
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