Good Afternoon
1. I am very happy to see so many of you gathered here today to celebrate our nation’s 44th birthday amidst this uncertain economic downturn. While the latest economic and financial data from around the world seem to indicate much improvement in the global economy, we should all still remain cautious and be always prepared for the unknown. We believe that this economic volatility will continue for some time.
2. Our Government in the true spirit of Tripartism has worked closely with all relevant parties, including the union and employers federation to tackle this downturn together. It has put in place a series of financial policies like the Job Credits, GST rebates, etc. to help Singaporeans ride through this difficult period. At the same time, a significant amount of money has been put into workers’ training under the SPUR programme, as we believe this is the best protection for our workers to keep their jobs and remain employable and competitive for the upturn.
3. Fortunately for most of you in the transport sector, you are not as badly hit as many of your brothers and sisters in other industries. In general, I understand that most of you still received your annual increment, and also some variable bonus. In such difficult and challenging times, to still be able to receive some increment and bonus is considered very good indeed, compared to workers in other harder-hit industries where their salaries are either cut or frozen.
4. While your sector may be spared from this downturn, I urge you all not to rest on laurels, as a lot of challenges lie ahead for your sector.
5. In early 2008, the Government has announced a slew of sweeping changes to the land transport sector. I am sure many of you are aware of this. Over the last 12 months, we have witnessed many changes and more can be anticipated in the coming months or years.
6. It is therefore crucial for all our brothers and sisters in the transport sector to gear up and enhance your skills set and knowledge, so that together with our management partners you can provide the best and a world-class transport system for all our commuters.
7. I understand and am also very pleased to note that many of you, especially our bus crew, are already on the Customer-Centric Initiative programme to enhance your customer service skills. This is an important soft skills training as providing good customer service has become a key benchmark of competition today. I urge all of you to keep up your good work.
8. In addition, I am aware that one of the major challenges we face is attracting more locals into the land transport industry, in particular, bus driving. It is a good job that offers a stable income, competitive benefits and reasonable employers.
9. Indeed, I have heard many expressing concerns like the long hours of work, plus the pressure of driving big buses in our busy Singapore roads. I do wish to emphasise that all kinds of jobs come with pressure. The important thing however is to learn how to manage it; with the right mindset, I believe things can be worked out.
10. Riding on your strong foundation of partnership and bipartism, NTWU and SMRT Buses have done a tremendous job in organising job fairs, for instance, the series of Bus Drivers Industry Previews and Recruitment Fairs that were held at the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i); as well as embarking on the Job Re-creation Programme scheme in the past few years to attract more locals into the industry. It has reaped some success but I firmly believe that with your strong and harmonious bipartite relationship, more can be achieved in the near future.
11. On this note, I wish you all a Happy Belated National Day!
