Comrades
Ladies and Gentlemen
There have been several highly profiled restructuring exercises in the news recently. First it was PSA Corporation. Then it was HDB, though it was presented as a voluntarily resignation scheme. There were also statements that more restructuring may take. Suddenly there was a flurry of commentaries, saying the iron rice-bowl is broken. The phrase "no more iron rice bowl" have caused some Singaporeans to be concerned.
However, the reality is this. Restructuring has been around all these times - both in the private and public sectors. Workers in the manufacturing sector, in particular, are no strangers to restructuring and retrenchments. My first experience was the closure of Rollei in the 1980s. 4,000 were retrenched. Then there were retrenchments in the electronic sector, involving thousands at a time. It has been the case more recently. In 1998, Seagate retrenched 1800 staff. In 1999, it retrenched 2500. In 2000, Western Digital retrenched almost 700 staff. It was painful for the unions. It was difficult for the workers. However, we did what was more important than drowning ourselves in sorrow. We focussed on helping the workers moved on.
Restructuring in Public Sector - Examples
The public sector has also gone through restructuring.
In 1986, the first pilot Town Councils were formed. They became reality in 1989. Thousands of HDB employees were hived off into private companies.
The Singapore General Hospital (SGH) became the first Government hospital to be restructured in 1989 and staff of SGH, being the first to be affected, feared for their job security. Those on the pension scheme also worried about their pension scheme. In addition, the public was concerned that both ward charges and professional fees might increase as a result.
The Amalgamated Union of Public Employees (AUPE), which represented them, could not negotiate on their behalf as SGH was no longer a Government hospital. As a result, SGH management met separate group of staff to explain to them the purpose of the restructuring.
In December 1989, the Health Corporation of Singapore Staff Union (HCSSU) was set up with the help of NTUC to tackle the problems arising from restructuring. With a union in place, many issues were resolved with much greater ease. Toa Payoh and Kandang Kerbau hospitals were restructured in 1990, and Tan Tock Seng Hospital in 1992. By that time, problems were very much reduced as SGH had set the guidelines for change.
Since then, change in the healthcare sector has become the natural order of things. The various public healthcare institutions have invested an enormous amount of time and energy in changing, transforming, and revitalizing themselves.
Pace of Restructuring Likely to Quicken
The pace of restructuring is likely to quicken in the years ahead.
The traditional social contract, loosely defined, had at its heart in the notion that individual work - loyal, consistent, and enduring over time - would be rewarded with steadily increasing pay, and security. The commitment to delivering the best value in all areas of our work is still important. However, we cannot expect that to be reciprocated with steadily increasing pay and security in the job.
Arm Ourselves with a Survival Kit
What do we do?
It is no use lamenting that employers are less caring, less responsible and more money-faced. It is no use lamenting the widening of the income gap. It is no use lamenting that the pace of restructuring is too fast. That would be wasting valuable time.
We should instead spend the time we have developing the survival kit for our workers, helping them find their way through uncharted territory. The survival kit for workers must recognise that we are responsible for our own employability and earning capacity. We are responsible for seizing opportunities provided by employers and government to upgrade our skills. The social safety net should be based on "portability" and savings as we work. We should save-as-we-earn for medical coverage, for old age and for risk of unemployment.
I have posed this question to the NTUC 10th Triennial Delegates Conference in April 2000. Although that was three years back, I feel that the points are still valid. What has changed is the even greater urgency now to arm our workers with the survival kit.
Explain Elements of Survival Kit
What are the elements of this survival kit?
We need a tent. This comes as our union membership. We need the hunting tools. This comes in the form of our skills. We need a compass and map. This comes in the form of lifelong learning and employment assistance. We need a first aid box. This comes in the form of portable medical benefits. We need emergency rations. This comes in the form of personal savings for unemployment. We need faith. This comes in the belief that we can overcome difficulties and forge ahead.
I will elaborate a little on each of these elements of the survival kit.
First, union membership. We must have a strong union movement and make privileges of union membership lifelong and portable. I am glad that idea of seamless membership has been adopted by the unions. This is an important move by the union movement. In the new environment, our workers need help in between jobs.
We can do more to strengthen the tent for our members. Every member is a member of the union regardless of whether they are Ordinary Branch or General Branch members. The only difference is what we can do for them. In this regard, I would urge all union leaders to constantly challenge your own assumptions of what the members need. Members do not always tell us explicitly what they need. Put yourselves in the shoes of your members. Walk the mile with them and you would get valuable insights into their needs and their expectations of the union.
Second, sharpen skills and secure fair value for skills. Skills, the basis of likelihood, are the most important item in the survival kit. This is especially true in an economy, where it is knowledge and skills that generate wealth and not land or capital. This is why we have been championing skills upgrading and certification. We will continue to push. Unions will also ensure that workers are paid fairly for the skills and contributions to their companies' development.
Third, we must strengthen the commitment to lifelong learning and facilitate mobility. The churn in the economy means that workers need to acquire new skills for new jobs quickly. The more able and willing the worker is to learn new skills, the more employable he or she will be. Some workers also need some help to be channelled to job openings, especially those created by new investments. NTUC Joblink will help to speed up the job search, cut the period of unemployment and guide workers to go for the relevant training to take up better jobs.
Fourth, we must make employment-related benefits more portable. One of such benefits is medical benefits. It is likely that more people would be in between jobs and they would need coverage. Workers are getting older and they would need medical coverage in their old age. We should find ways to build "save-as-you-earn" systems to take care of workers' medical expenses and to tide them over unemployment.
Fifth, workers may be unemployed in between each job change. We can try to keep the period of unemployment as short as possible, but we will not be able to eliminate it altogether. Now, most workers rely on retrenchment benefits. However, when the job tenures become shorter, the amounts paid in retrenchment will be smaller. Moreover, not all workers get retrenchment benefits. Hence, it is important workers, with the support of the company, set aside some savings on a regular basis as a second line of defence that they could fall back on in the retrenchment. The social safety net must also be effective in helping those in our society who needs more time to catch up with the rest.
Last but not least, we need to stand faithful to the belief that we can overcome the difficulties we face and forge ahead. This is where the union movement needs good leaders, leaders who understand the needs of workers and act to fill those needs.
End
I would like to thank all of you for the sacrifices and contributions you have made in serving those whom you serve. It is not an easy journey, and the rewards rest in the lives that you touch through your sacrifices!
Thank you.
