NTUC President, Diana Chia and Secretary-General, Lim Swee Say, together with fellow union leaders, visited local fast food outlet Yellow Submarines for one of NTUC’s Learning Journeys on Monday, 7 April 2014. The Learning Journey, jointly organised by the NTUC Hospitality and Consumer Business Cluster and Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute, was also attended by about 200 owners and management representatives from 40 coffee shops, catering companies, and hotel food & beverage (F&B) establishments.
During the visit, Yellow Submarines showcased its projects and initiatives that have raised productivity and benefitted their workers with gain-sharing as well as jobs made easier, smarter and safer. As a young start-up, Yellow Submarines took advantage of various assistance schemes, including the Inclusive Growth Programme (IGP) under NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute). Under IGP, Yellow Submarines purchased a Combi Oven, which allowed them to reduce the manpower needed for their operations by about 40 per cent. In addition, its workers received eight per cent increase in wages as a result of this productivity improvement.
This is one of the 270 productivity projects in the hotels and F&B sector supported by e2i since the launch of the programme by the Labour Movement in August 2010. These have impacted over 25,000 workers in the sector. With productivity improvements, these establishments have also been able to improve the wages of their workers by an average of 11%.
The F&B industry in Singapore has more than 6,600 establishments, employing more than 190,000 workers.
Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General and Cluster Lead for the Hospitality and Consumer Business Cluster of NTUC, said, “It is encouraging to see heartland SMEs in the F&B sector embarking on productivity efforts that result in better gain-sharing for its employees. It goes to show that it is possible for even new and smaller establishments to have productivity breakthroughs and mitigate challenges associated with rising costs and a tight labour market. The Yellow Submarines’ story also shows that various assistance schemes out there for SMEs are effective, and I hope more heartland SMEs will take advantage of such available programmes to do well for their businesses and make every SME job a better job for our workers.”
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