Mr Tay Kok Khiang, President of ST Aerospace and Management and Staff of ST Aerospace
Brother Lim Kuang Beng, General Secretary of SISEU
Sister Josephine Teo, Executive Secretary of SISEU and fellow union leaders
Fellow Singaporeans and Friends
I am very happy to join you here today to celebrate the 42nd birthday of Singapore.
Singapore has done well. Strong economic performance, better profitability, more job opportunities and higher wages and bonus – These are win-win-win outcomes for our economy, our businesses and our people.
Our success today is worth celebrating, because it did not come easy. It is the result of many years of hard work by everyone - workers, union leaders, management and government.
Today, as we celebrate our 42th National Day, we can stand together, hold our heads high and say - Well done, Singapore ?
The theme for this year’s National Day celebration is “Celebrate Singapore: City of Possibilities”.
It reflects our optimism in our future as one nation, and our pride as one people.
The growth and development of the Singapore Aerospace industry is a case in point.
The aerospace industry encompassing both manufacturing and maintenance is one of the fastest growing industries in Singapore.
Last year, it posted a record-breaking growth of nearly 20% with an output valued at a record $6.3 billion. Employment for the industry also grew by 1,800, more than 10% of the total aerospace workforce.
The prospects for our aerospace industry are bright.
Aircraft manufacturers are reporting record sales. Singapore today already serves a quarter of the Asia-Pacific demand for aerospace maintenance, repair & overhaul (MRO).
We will keep creating new possibilities for our aerospace industry to grow, doubling its output to $12.6 billion by 2018.
The 300-hectare Seletar Aerospace Park is being developed to host an integrated aerospace industry cluster – from MRO, to manufacturing, training and business aviation. It is projected to create another 10,000 skilled and good paying jobs for our people.
ST Aerospace has been the pioneer and key pillar of our aerospace industry, growing together with Singapore.
The company started off as a military depot maintenance facility some three decades ago. Today, ST Aerospace is the world's largest commercial airframe MRO provider, with customers spread far and wide across the globe.
Even as ST Aerospace continues to expand globally, it has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to Singapore: opening new hangars, investing in new facilities, and expanding its MRO & engineering capabilities here year after year.
Your well established reputation for reliability, safety and quality precedes you in the international arena.
All this is possible because the management, union and staff work closely together in a pro-business, pro-workers and pro-customers way. I congratulate you for the excellent performance.
Looking ahead, we want to do even better.
Not too long ago, Asia Pacific was regarded by many global companies as part of the “ROW - Rest of the World”. Today, the situation has changed completely.
Asia Pacific is no longer regarded as ROW, but as BOW – “Best of the World”.
The rapid transformation of China and India and the dynamic growth of Asian economies – big and small – have turned Asia into a region full of new possibilities and keen competition.
Those who are able to move fast can become big winners, whereas those unable to respond will end up big losers.
What make us Uniquely Singapore is that even though we are a small country, we are a big winner in this world of globalisation.
To stay as a winner, we must continue to think creatively, move swiftly and adapt quickly to changing environment.
We must continue to compete fiercely for the good jobs and the best investments - to make sure that Singapore will always be a land of opportunities in a region of possibilities.
The latest employment figures released by the Ministry of Manpower this week showed that we have created another 61,900 jobs in our booming economy in the 2nd quarter of this year.
This record job growth has lowered the unemployment rate to 2.4% - the lowest level in six years.
With strong job growth, we are seeing signs of tightening in the labour market.
To sustain our strong economic growth, it is a challenge for us to keep breaking the manpower bottleneck.
Yet at the same time, it presents us with a great opportunity to further strengthen our manpower supply in four ways:
First, improve the productivity of our low wage workers. We need to keep re-creating old jobs into more productive jobs, and turn cheap-sourcing into best-sourcing so that every low wage workers of today can become more productive and earn better wages tomorrow.
In this regard, I am happy that ST Aerospace has converted 40 casual workers to contract employees as Hangar Assistants. These employees have been given training, medical coverage and CPF, thus helping them to be more productive and giving them better job security and income stability.
Second, promote the re-employment of retired workers. With longer life expectancy, we need to keep transforming our workplace to become more age-friendly, so that many more workers can be re-employed upon reaching the official retirement age of 62.
Again, recognising the strengths of mature workforce, ST Aerospace has worked with Workforce Development Agency (WDA), SISEU & NTUC under the Advantage Scheme to recruit, retain and re-employ mature workers. Last year, the company re-employed 27 retirees to continue working in ST Aerospace. I hope many more companies will do likewise.
Third, raise the employment rate across all ages. We need to make our workplace more family-friendly, so that those not in employment today – early retirees and homemakers - can re-join the workforce. At the same time, re-train and re-deploy workers affected by business restructuring, so that more workers can stay in employment to enjoy the benefits brought about by economic upgrading.
Last but not least, make good use of foreign manpower to complement and supplement our local workforce. We are better off today competing with the rest of the world with a workforce of 2.5 million people instead of just 1.8 million local workers.
In short, we want Singapore to be our land of opportunities for everyone, young and old.
Working together as Singapore United, let us strive to make Singapore a nation with one of the highest employment rates and lowest unemployment rates in the world.
Happy National Day to All !
