Model ID: 350e3c82-b1b8-489a-b97a-504da354f7de
Sitecore Context Id: 350e3c82-b1b8-489a-b97a-504da354f7de;
To our sisters and brothers, a very, very warm welcome to all of you. This is a very, very special occasion. As you can see, we are finally able to get together and have this dialogue session.
Sisters and brothers, I’m delighted to have all of you here and on behalf of SG Brother Ng Chee Meng as well as my fellow CC Members, let me warmly welcome all of you. You all deserve a round of applause.
Now we also like to take this opportunity to welcome our tripartite partners as well. We have MOM Minister, Brother See Leng with us here today and also we have our SNEF President Brother Robert Yap.
And of course, I can't resist the opportunity to wish Brother Robert Yap a happy birthday and also Sister Thana as well. As you know, before you all were seated at the reception outside, the reception was from them.
Right, and of course, join me right now to warmly welcome our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Brother Lawrence Wong.
Thank you, thank you Brother Lawrence Wong for joining us today. I recall the last time we were able to have this pre-Budget dialogue session was in January and we had it with Brother Lawrence Wong, and the thing was that we could not do it in person so we had to do it virtually. So, we are really glad that today we can actually have a dialogue session today this afternoon.
So, we have come a very long way since then Brothers and Sisters. The economic outlook has actually become more complex but we’re glad that some of the key sectors that we know have been picking up and my fellow union leaders can testify to that as well.
Since Singapore reopened in April this year, we see our aviation sector, we also see our hospitality sector as well as the F&B sector opening up and getting better so we're really glad about it. We also see that manufacturing too continues to enjoy a buoyant growth as well, and able to have access to more sectors given the robust external demand. Also, with a non-oil domestic export as well, we see a double-digit growth in May, so this is something that's positive.
But however, with the recent developments it is quite worrisome as well. We see that post challenges for global recovery and also the ongoing Russia and the Ukraine war has also led to bottlenecks, especially in our food global supply chain. China’s zero COVID-19 policy has also disrupted the production global supply chain as well and has dampened Singapore export.
With all these recent happenings, especially the recent rate hike by the US Federal Reserve, it has also caused other countries to tighten their monetary policies, which could lead to a slowdown in growth.
This is also our concern and I recall that during the May Day Rally, PM actually spoke about it as well. He actually suggested that a recession in Singapore may be possible in the next two years, so it is something that all of us are very, very concerned about, and all these disruptions have also led to acute uncertainties felt by our workers.
We are still in a period of transition to an uncertain new normal norm, especially in COVID policies and all that, and workers have had to deal with rapidly changing business models and also increasing digitalisation and higher workload due to manpower shortage.
And in fact, we also see that future trends like the growing green economy, the greater need for caregiving support in an aging population as well as also the rapid transformation of the Singapore economy, also adds new pressure to our workers and to our workforce, and that is something that the Labour Movement must look into.
It is something that's very close to our hearts and we must ensure that we never lose our pioneering spirit in championing the interests of our workers. We want to hear the ground, we want to help our workers to adapt to the new environment which is challenging but sometimes it is very, very vital, absolutely vital.
In fact, Brother Chee Meng has constantly reminded us and emphasised on that as well.
Sisters and brothers, coming back to the present, I think if I were to ask every one of you here this afternoon in the room, what is your immediate concern, I'm sure a number of you will share with us, it is about the rising cost of living.
It is really, really worrisome, and in fact we are aware that there was a recent Black Box poll whereby the findings was that nine out of 10 Singaporeans felt that inflation has affected their lives. Not only that, Singaporeans really feel the pain especially from petrol, utilities and supermarket prices, and this is something that we are all very concerned about.
But on this note I would like to take this opportunity to thank Brother Lawrence, you know, for quickly hearing the concerns from the ground and they pushed, and he pushed out the recent 1.5 billion support package to help our workers. That is very, very important and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Brother Lawrence for that. Thank you so much.
This package is actually a timely reminder of the needs to strengthen our social compact and also to ensure that everyone gets the help that they need, especially in difficult times.
At the May Day Rally last month, Brother Lawrence, you had also announced the Government’s Forward Singapore efforts with a goal of refreshing the social compact and ensuring that it helps to support future generations of Singaporeans.
I think that is something that is very useful and it is also symbolic, that Brother Lawrence, you announced Forward Singapore at May Day Rally and you have today chosen this present occasion to elaborate on the vision that you have for the conversation and we deeply appreciate that.
It also highlights the important role that the Labour Movement and the critical institution of tripartism of our tripartite partners here as well. The role that we need to play in this social compact by ensuring protection as well as progression, and also placement and privilege for every of our workers. Because every worker matters to us.
And with that, Sisters and Brothers, it gives me great pleasure right now to invite Brother Lawrence Wong to share with us on Forward Singapore, thank you!
