Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am happy to be here with all of you to celebrate the SNDA 70th anniversary. 70 years is not a short period of time. There is indeed much to celebrate.
The media in Singapore plays a key role in the lives of all Singaporeans, and all those who live and work here. Local newspaper serves as an important source of communications and information sharing among many of us. It allows us to know what is happening around us. It is a trusted source of information and many, if not all, Singaporeans read newspapers.
However, newsvendors face the challenge in recruiting and retaining workers into the trade. While this challenge remains today, nevertheless, I am glad to share that we have seen several breakthroughs this year.
The Tripartite Workgroup, with key representatives from NTUC, the Ministry of Manpower, SPH and the newsvendors associations met many times to discuss ways to solve the challenging issues facing newsvendors. The efforts put in have yielded some results.
To attract and retain more local workers to take on the job of a newsvendor, SPH and the associations have raised the salaries of newsvendors. They have also improved the benefits for delivery workers by providing better working terms and conditions.
The company also embarked on a branding exercise to raise the image of newsvendors. You may have seen some of the posters that were put up in the town councils and other recruitment organizations like NTUC’s e2i.
Since the exercise started this year, the industry has been able to recruit Singaporeans into the delivery workforce and we hope that more will join.
At the same time, SPH also reviewed the press operations, from the editorial completion, to printing, to its final distribution, with one view in mind - how to be Cheaper, Better and Faster.
And this will be achieved together with the associations’ inputs by using semi-automation and making changes to the whole press process. For example, vendors with fewer workers can make use of insertion machines. This will help reduce their pressure to get workers to meet delivery deadlines.
Moving ahead, SPH will put in place newspaper vending machines in areas where there are lower subscription orders. This is so that more workers can be deployed to deliver newspapers to areas with higher subscription orders.
It has been a very productive year with all these implementations to revamp the industry. The efforts must continue.
We shall continue to do well, do good, do together and do more to achieve even more breakthroughs! Here’s wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a great year ahead.
