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Sitecore Context Id: 9a0cb0dc-3444-4d71-846a-4c76b7a6be7b;
Mr Deputy Speaker Sir, Unions has advocated for a raise in retirement age and also re-employment age to provide Older Workers the opportunity to continue working, ONLY if they wish to do so. On behalf of my fellow Union leaders, I would like to put on record that such appeal is not about requiring our workers to work longer, but more so providing the platform for our workers that still wants to continue working, not forcing them as it may be perceived.
We believe older workers can continue earning an income to help meet ongoing living expenses and also strengthen their retirement adequacy. NTUC believes that “Having a job is the best welfare”. Workers still have the choice to retire early if they decide to do so.
I would like to share with this House on some of the works that our Union leaders and NTUC had started much earlier. If I recalled back in 2018 Budget debate, NTUC had called for tripartite discussion to review the long-term retirement and re-employment ages. Thereafter, a Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers was convened in May 2018 to review the retirement and re-employment ages and also to consider adjustments to the CPF contribution rates for Older Workers. NTUC then engaged close to 500 Union leaders across the services, industrial and public sectors over multiple focus group discussions to hear not just the aspirations that workers have but also their concerns. After several engagement sessions with leaders, our NTUC representatives, Deputy Sec Gens Heng Chee How and Cham Hui Fong and my fellow Central Committee leaders Bro Phillip and Sister Eileen relayed our collective views to the tripartite workgroup.
The workgroup also studied overseas models of retirement and re-employment to analyse best practices that may aid in their tripartite discussion. From their studies, the workgroup then proposed several recommendations prior to raising the retirement and re-employment ages progressively starting in 2022 and not later than 2030. In addition, they also recommended that CPF contribution rates for our older workers from age 55 to 70 has to be raised accordingly.
Notwithstanding the 2 factors above, the key to successfully raising the retirement and re-employment ages is creating an inclusive and progressive workplace. This means that employers proactively discuss and apply a structured career development plan with their older workers. This will then allow for training and job-redesign to raise productivity and longevity at the workplace. Employers must also be encouraged to provide more re-employment opportunities to retain these experienced workers.
Sir, I would like to highlight some recommendations from the workgroup and share some ground feedback.
Our workers cannot be terminated on grounds of age, assurance for continued employment up to the statutory re-employment age and not forgetting allowing our employers to redesign jobs. The role of our fellow workers will have to be reviewed not just with age but also emergence of new technology. This conversation has to start early for our fellow workers, not limiting to just at age of mid-50s. This job redesign is critical so that our fellow workers go for training early and as they age, they can be less physical but more productive with the use of technology. In their course of work, NTUC can offer our Company Training Committee, or in short CTC as the platform to train and prepare our workers for re-employment, company by company.
Sir, currently there are already several support measures provided by government to employers to offset the cost to re-employ our fellow workers. Measures such as Senior Worker Support Package and the Early Adopter Grant. Employers should be using such schemes to provide re-employment opportunities to workers. Employers should no longer cite cost of hiring or business needs as an expense of having an experienced worker at the workplace. Hopefully such grant terms can be further enhanced to encourage more employers be early adopters and not wait till 2030.
I would like to urge Employers to continue to do their part in helping our fellow matured Singaporean workers to continue working if they want to and tap on their experience to guide and mentor the younger workforce.
Sir, I would like to re-iterate that Unions calling for this raising of RA and REA is not about us wanting our fellow Singaporeans to work longer but, doing our part as Unions to ensure our fellow workers that are able and wish to work longer can continue to do so. There will also be workers who may not want to continue working and hence, that is another beauty of this Bill as it does not enforce workers to work longer but instead make employers exercise their responsibility to allow older workers to work longer if they want to.
Speaker, in Malay please.
Tuan Speaker, peningkatan umur didalam akta ini adalah langkah yang diambil oleh pemerintah meletakkan beberapa cadangan yang dibuat oleh Kerjasama tiga pihak pada tahun 2019. Sebagai pekerja ada perkara yang kita harus prihatin:
Pertama adalah untuk majikan membuat perancangan awal pada pekerja dengan menyemak kembali pekerjaan mereka. Majikan harus akur bahawa perancangan awal ini penting untuk memberikan keyakinan pada pekerja bahawa mereka masih lagi boleh menyumbang dan terus melanjutkan pekerjaan. Saya mengalu-alukan majikan untuk membuat persediaan awal buat pekerja mereka dan elak menunggu apabila telah menjangkau usia menjelang persaraan. Majikan harus juga sedar bahawa terdapat banyak geran-geran bantuan untuk mereka terus menggajikan pekerja mereka. Elakkanlah daripada terlalu menghitung nilai kewangan terhadap pekerja demikian yang telah bersama mereka dari awal lagi.
Kedua, Akta ini tidak memaksa seseorang pekerja itu bekerja sehingga ke usia senja. Malah ia disediakan hanya untuk mereka yang mahu teruskan pekerjaan dengan sebab sebab mereka tersendiri. Kesatuan pekerja and Gerakan Buruh akan terus berkhidmat untuk memberi cadangan pada majikan dan pemerintah hanya untuk mereka yang mahu melanjutkan perkerjaan sahaja. Bagi mereka yang tidak ingin meneruskan pekerjaan, anda boleh tersukan rancangan anda untuk bersara.
Ini membuat saya pada cadangan terakhir bagi mereka yang memilih untuk bersara lebih awal. Kita ketahui bahawa perpindahan akta ini juga berhubung kait dengan akta CPF. Saya ingin merayu pada kerajaan untuk membuat pengajian sekiranya wang CPF pekerja boleh dikeluarkan lebih awal, bagi mereka yang memilih untuk bersara sebelum umur yang ditetapkan. Ini dapat meringankan perbelanjaan mereka di masa itu dalam melayari kehidupan dengan wang hasil usaha mereka sewaktu muda dahulu.
Tuan Speaker, sepertimana akta ini tidak memaksa seseorang itu bekerja lebih lama, saya mengalu-alukan pemerintah untuk menimbangkan rayuan saya awal tadi tentang pengeluaran CPF lebih awal dan tidak menunggu apabila umur mereka menjangkau 65 tahun.
The journey towards retirement for a worker always requires some thought. From my engagement with retired workers, it’s a real stigma to wake up the next day with no employment and wondering what’s next. I remind myself and fellow workers to have a plan early on and what to do upon retiring. We should avoid working actively, if possible, at that age, and spend time catching up with our hobbies and what we may have missed or not able to do so earlier.
On this ground, I hope the government can be flexible to allow CPF Life payout to be earlier at the time when the worker decides to retire. I am also aware that more Singaporeans are even topping up their CPF to earn better interests and payout. However not many is fortunate to be in this condition. Hopefully the government can consider this appeal for our workers to enjoy their retirement years with a steady income.
Mr Speaker Sir, notwithstanding the above, I support this Bill and appeal to all employers to exercise this bill with improved benefits to reflect your appreciation to our older workers. Thank you.
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