Sister Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State of MOM
Past Presidents, Brother John De Payva, Sister Diana Chia, Vice President of SNEF, Alexander Melchers,
Distinguished Guests,
Brothers and Sisters,
I am happy to join all of you this morning to speak at the Labour Research Conference. The theme today is a very apt one. Given all the different changes in the world today, in the last decade, the workplace, our working people have been really impacted. If you just look at scientific and technological innovations, the advent, initially, of robotic process automation, and now, of generative artificial intelligence (GAI), are reshaping the workplace, work, creating opportunities for capital, for the business, and actually in one way, giving great opportunities for working people. And in other ways, causing great anxiety amongst others.
INTRODUCTION
You know, in the near past, when we were talking about industry 4.0, robotic automation processes, AI, were disrupting mostly manual and deep jobs, making tasks easier, freeing up human potential, upping productivity.
But in the recent times, the GAI advent poses new challenges, as well as new opportunities. Why do I say new challenges? For many of you that are here today, in the past, technology displays what I call mostly skills-quotient jobs, at the manufacturing process, mass production, customised production. But in the next 10 years, it could well start displacing intellectual-quotient (IQ) jobs. Where lawyers, doctors, definitely accountants, when they are in quantified spheres, GAI can either augment or replace the profession.
So the IQ-quotient jobs are now going to be the space of either opportunities or challenges. So in the Labour Movement, you know, we really have to think about the future of work. This seminar today, will not only deal with that, but deal with the human aspect of this. Because at the workplace level, there is a shift from traditional on-site, fixed-location, fixed time work, to now more and more Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA). Given our government’s endorsement of the Tripartite Guidelines for Flexible Work Arrangements, earlier this year, we know that FWAs will be here to stay.
In fact, for the working people, FWAs are in high demand, clearly so. As they contribute to a more conducive and supportive work environment, where many of us, deploy our time, especially like this morning’s commute, into other activities. Partly for work, partly to take care of family, and so on and so forth.
So from the worker’s perspective, it's a tremendous augmentation to the workplace environment, balancing our awareness of life, and responsibilities. So that employers, some employers will see the positive side of FWAs, to see that it's an enabler of competitive edge if they can redesign their business to bring in the talents that desire FWA. But there are other employers that often tell me that in their space of business, it's very, very challenging to handle FWA, especially in shift work and that kind of industries. So how can we deal with such shifts?
At the individual level, well, at NTUC, we interviewed many workers in the few tens of thousands of times. We found that mental health and the desire for work-life harmony has become front and centre more and more so. And in business surveys that you have seen, some surveys have indicated that almost two thirds of employees in Singapore suffer from potential burnout, or at least they express that they are suffering, or may suffer personally from burnout. And through our new taskforce, we found mental wellbeing as one of the top three concerns of youths coming into the workforce. These are dramatic challenges, technological trends that no longer if, but when, changes in the workplace either offer us opportunities to explore challenges that can mean a lot of potential.
So our Labour Movement, we have to address all these with innovative strategies to support the aspirations and need of working people but at the same time,
the way that the NTUC works in Singapore is to ensure too, that our employer partners will have the space and strategies to deliver good businesses as well so that we get a win-win at the interacting operational level, but critically at the larger level of economy, more ways of positioning our little red box as a place for good business. You can come in, put your money here and you can move well in a predictable way.
VALUE OF TRIPARTISM AND TRUST IN NTUC
The way that we have done this collaboration in Singapore is well done. I am preaching maybe to the choir today or all of you who are attending but let me say it again. Tripartism is unique in Singapore, instead of competitive strategies that you see around the world, now in the U.S., with the run up to the elections, unions are a key part of the process. In Europe and next, is our UK friends, even with the Labour government, there are many, many levels of discussion of Labour championing and moving quite stridently on workers’ welfare. In our own backyard, we look at the things that happen in Korea, even Japan, we see the contest between Labour and Government.
But in Singapore, we do it differently. Often, we meet with our employer partners and government behind closed doors. And while we often project publicly, the harmonious way of doing things, or great collaboration, but behind closed doors, let me tell you that there are sharp lips, where our views at the initial stages do not converge.
NTUC, SNEF and our Government put in a lot of effort, to ensure that we have a collaborative, conducive environment for businesses, so that we can have a sustained way to take care of them. And I think the demonstrations of what they have done have shown the independence and progressive nature of our Labour Movement in Singapore.
The recent Platform Workers Bill that we have passed and the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support Scheme that we have put in place, all did not happen by accident. In both, almost five years of work, the Labour Movement was at the forefront of it, often alone—the employers could not find common ground with us. We moved to protect the
workers, and the Government, who had different policy constraints, to provide essentially some form of unemployment support to help the PME class of workers as they transition from work.
Over time, we strategise and we review our own views and policies at NTUC. These are big and important progress to hold many parts of our society together. On the one hand, critical to NTUC’s work and its presence today, is championing workers’ interests on wages, welfare, and work prospects. Including the workers in my view of the platform workers protection. So, we always want to do and meet all these challenges and seize opportunities in an inclusive, resilient and productive way.
Which is very encouraging to us all in NTUC—and if I may encourage you also because we play such an important part in NTUC—that in our recent survey, the public today believes that NTUC is doing things on the right track. 69 per cent of our public has expressed trust in our NTUC, of which more than half indicated the trust NTUC highly. Quite an accomplishment—69 per cent in a tumultuous world. We do not have the longitudinal data, but maybe from now till 2034 to 2044, with the participation of the labour environment, we can build this all from data, information before us to do even better. Indeed, NTUC wants to do better. We want to go even beyond the 69 per cent, to 79 per cent, and 90 per cent of the working people and placing trust in NTUC and our Labour Movement that we will do right by, and we will champion workers' interests.
I say all this with humility and thanksgiving. Thanksgiving that many of my staff in NTUC have worked nonstop over the last few years to move the ground, overcome different challenges, put their heads down. Like NTUC and the audience today, going through almost four years of relentless work, together with our policy team, our leader teams, to actually move the Platform Workers Bill. Quite incredible and I am thankful that all of you now are participating in this seminar. Essentially, it will be important to our collaboration here at NTUC.
I hope the things that we have done in the last few years are testament to the impact that we have made, and I hope that not only those in NTUC who are here today,
but also the larger ecosystem, will be motivated to come together as a collective to push, even as we deal with the challenges that I mentioned. And importantly, make those challenges into opportunities for both your businesses, your academic institutions, and championing workers' interests in their wages, welfare, and work prospects for the future. Regardless of what the world throws at us, to turn those challenges into opportunities to create a new chapter for Singapore.
IMPORTANT ROLE OF ACADEMICS IN THE LABOUR MOVEMENT COMMUNITY
So, I would like to say to you that tripartism has been a success. But going forward, all of us at NTUC will continue to see the critical need to be better, and to partner with academics, think-tanks and research organisations. By collaborating and helping on your expertise, we hope that we can leverage your insights on emerging trends and conduct research on these key issues together for the Labour Movement and NTUC
NTUC cannot do this alone. We recognised it four years ago, even in the disrupted world of COVID, we outreached to a group of academics. Thank you for the hard work that you have put in, in conjunction with NTUC to do what we are doing today.
We want to expand this multi-stakeholder ecosystem to allow us to better strategise, to devise good labour policies that are well-informed, impactful, balanced, and beneficial towards stakeholders in our Labour Movement. That of course includes the businesses. Such collaboration, in my view, is vital for developing evidence-based solutions and innovative approaches that effectively address challenges faced by employers and workers. And I think this is why NTUC has always put emphasis on working with academics, to do collaborations, and make actionable recommendations that we’ve done so in the past few years.
I see Brother Mathew Mathews listening attentively to me, and I thank him for being a critical part for us to start the ecosystem. I see many familiar faces here as well, Mr Lim Siong Guan, my respected colleague and if I may say so, a mentor of mine in the civil service. I see different partners that have contributed, and I am thankful for the participation. And more importantly, for your participation in the future of the
Labour Movement, strategies and foundations of good work in the next 10 years.
RESEARCH: RELEASE OF THE SINGAPORE LABOUR JOURNAL VOLUME 3
At the Labour Research Conference two years ago, we launched the Singapore Labour Journal. It was the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. Our aim then was to deepen our understanding of emerging labour issues and best practices by sharing insights from both academia and practitioners.
We had only intended for the journal to be published once in two years. But interestingly, it was so well-received that they are launching the third journal in three years. So, we are probably 200 per cent more productive than we intended to be.
So let me congratulate the strategy team and all the different partners for moving the momentum and getting this journal off its feet and becoming an anticipated research piece that is welcome not only in Singapore, but by different parties around the world, that ask for our thinking and ask for some of the key insights of our research that are in the journals.
The theme of this year’s Journal is “Challenge as Opportunity”, which reflects what I have said just now as well to move the Labour Movement not only to look at challenges but to see opportunities in times of uncertainty and adversity.
As with previous issues of the journal, we have included contributions from not just scholars, but importantly also practitioners and policymakers across different disciplines. I am grateful for the support of our Advisory and Editorial Board members, whose expertise has contributed to our Journal’s success.
I also sincerely thank all the esteemed contributors and reviewers for entrusting their work to NTUC. Through our evidence-based research, we can ensure that your good work and recommendations can lead to real, practical outcomes that make a difference in the world of work and give credit to the work that you’ve done.
LAUNCH OF LABOUR ALLIANCE CO-LAB (LAB)
I always have recognised the crucial role that academia and research partners play in shaping policies and our mutual responsibilities in shaping the future of work. As such, I want to deepen our collaboration with all of you.
To this end, I am thrilled to announce the launch of the Labour Alliance co-laB, or LAB for short. This first-of-its-kind labour research alliance in SEA aims to deepen the partnership that I mentioned to you between the Labour Movement and our academic and research partners through an ecosystem approach.
The co-laB, or LAB for short, will bring together 50 labour research experts, researchers and practitioners to investigate pressing issues and innovate solutions for meaningful and sustainable change.
In this space, NTUC hopes to foster a unique community that is supportive and inclusive, where we can leverage on our combined resources, amplify our voices and champion workers’ interests more effectively, more constructively in building a bigger, more constructive economy that is able to meet all the different challenges.
NTUC believes in win-win-win in all the ways that we do things. Whether you are a researcher, or businessman, in all the views that we express, please know that NTUC is here alongside the workers, alongside the businesses, so that we can create a better Singapore. co-laB would not be otherwise. We will do likewise, all the research projects, we will welcome business views, business projects; we will welcome academic research, big research projects, whatever that may matter to you, let us put it on the table and consider what we can do.
But in the next year, we already have some thinking of what we want to do:
i. Ensuring a Just Transition for workers amidst all the different challenges of the world. A focus maybe in this space, is how can we partner each other to ensure a just transition.
ii. And with the advent of new opportunities of work, workers can seize good opportunities and better lives as well, enhancing the Continuing Education and Training (CET) ecosystem in Singapore, so that there's always the policy instrument to keep upgrading ourselves consistently, sustainably, and actually, so that we are always at the forefront of new opportunities.
iii. And including the topic that NTUC cares about, the more intriguing challenges of our vulnerable workers: the freelancers, women, older workers, all those other topics.
In the future, NTUC, with your help, we hope to expand LAB globally, sharing and championing the best practices and innovative approaches of Singapore’s unique Labour Movement.
Together with all our LAB members, we want to build international partnerships, exchange knowledge with international unions and labour experts, so that we can learn from each other to become even more effective in addressing the challenges faced by the working people.
I am grateful to all our inaugural LAB members for giving your strong support to this project, and for sharing their expertise and valuable insights with NTUC. I am confident that together, we will be able to drive meaningful change and contribute to a more equitable and resilient labour landscape.
CONCLUSION
Today is a day worth celebrating. LAB represents a significant step forward in our collective efforts. Let us move forward with this shared commitment, as we not only launch this important initiative but also prepare to engage in meaningful dialogue throughout the day. Thank you for being a part of NTUC. Thank you in advance for your contributions and commitment to the Labour Movement. Thank you for being an important part of the workers’ compact that NTUC champions for. Thank you sincerely.
