Imagine our void deck strewn with used mails, our street filled with garbage and our tables at hawker centres occupied by leftover food and used utensils, I can go on and on. My point – cleaners are indeed important in our daily lives. They may hold unglamorous jobs, they may seem unimportant but without them, we will be facing so much inconveniences in life – conveniences that we have all taken for granted.
Last year July, for the first time, we celebrated Singapore’s inaugural Cleaners’ Day. A small effort from us to thank these unsung heroes, to recognise and show appreciation to them for their contributions in keeping Singapore clean and green. Without them, all Singaporeans will not be able to work, live or play in a clean, hygienic and healthy environment. Hence on behalf of the tripartite partners and everyone here, I would like to thank you for all your hard work. Hence today, all of you are our distinguished Guests of Honour. May I invite all of you to stand up and accept our gratitude to you?
This year, as we honour our cleaning workers, the tripartite partners share a common goal to raise the productivity of our industries. This is because there is a limit to how fast we can grow our manpower, so economic growth must come from productivity growth – by reducing wastage, raising quality, enhancing efficiency. This is especially important for low wage workers, such as our cleaners, because raising their productivity is the most sustainable way to help them earn a better living.
After extensive consultation between the Labour Movement, the industry players and Government agencies, the tripartite partners are ready to implement a holistic strategy to transform the sector. The strategy comprises four levels of initiatives – those targeted at the industry, at service buyers, at service providers, and at workers.
At the centre of this strategy is the industry-level initiative. As announced earlier this year, NEA (the National Environment Agency) will implement a new Accreditation Scheme for cleaning service providers. This voluntary accreditation scheme started with a one-year pilot project this month. Under this Accreditation Scheme, NEA will recognise cleaning companies that meet criteria such as having fair employment terms for workers, proper operation system and usage of equipment, appropriate training of workers, and undertaking efforts to enhance the quality of cleaning services provided.
To kick-start the voluntary accreditation scheme, it will only be extended to companies that tender for the general cleaning contracts of the conservancy area, commercial buildings, and F&B (food & beverage) establishments. Credited companies will be differentiated into two categories – the Clean Mark Silver and Clean Mark Gold.
At the service buyer level, NTUC and NEA have been actively promoting the concept of best sourcing, so that they award cleaning contracts not just based on price but also based on quality of service delivery. The continued support of service buyers is critical to the remaking of the cleaning sector. It is therefore of great encouragement to the tripartite partners that several Government agencies have given their support to the scheme, including the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, Ministry of National Development, Ministry of Education, Housing and Development Board, Singapore Land Authority, Singapore Tourism Board, National Arts Council and PAP Town Councils. In the case of MOE, it has stated the need for accreditation as one of the critical criteria for evaluation in its latest tender for new cleaning contractors that provide cleaning services for its 360 schools.
We are also pleased that buyers from the private sector have also expressed support to engage services from accredited cleaning companies, such as the JTC Corporation, City Developments Limited, One Marina Property Services Private Limited, NTUC Foodfare Co-operative Limited and NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Limited. NTUC will continue to work with NEA to promote the scheme, and progressively make accreditation the standard criteria in awarding tenders.
At the service provider level, we need to encourage and help cleaning providers apply for accreditation. It is a new ball game for them, so we believe that some help and financial assistance to the early adopters will be useful to catalyse a broader industry response. NTUC has therefore set aside a $2.5 million fund, administered by NTUC’s e2i, to help the first 50 cleaning companies defray the cost of accreditation, such as process re-engineering, or deployment of equipment and technology. Training cost will be funded separately under WDA’s existing schemes.
At the workers’ level, we also need to equip them with the relevant skills and competencies that are recognised by the cleaning industry and employers, in support of the accreditation scheme. WDA (the Singapore Workforce Development Agency) will chart the training and progression pathways for the low-waged and low-skilled cleaning workforce by mapping the skill and competencies against occupational groups at various levels. Hence there will be better skill-based training and clear progression pathways for workers of all levels such as cleaning crews, stewards and supervisors, in various cleaning sub-sectors such as the commercial, private residential and public cleaning. Under the Environmental Cleaning WSQ framework, there are three levels of qualifications, namely Certificate, Higher Certificate and Advanced Certificate, plus a smaller learning bundle – “Certified Cleaning Crew” attainment The WSQ courses will be the main channel for the workers to meet the training requirements under NEA’s accreditation scheme.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our tripartite partners and supporters in making these remarkable changes possible, they are
many more service buyers and enlightened service providers who are determined to making the industry better and better-er. The World Cup fever has just ended and the lime light seems to be on superstar players and super coaches, well maybe an addition of a famous Paul the Octopus. Have we paused to think of who keeps the stadium clean and comfortable, or even who keeps a good playing field? I would think the answer is NO. Imagine sitting in a dirty stadium filled with peanut shells and beer cans; and imagine players playing on a field filled with holes and mud. I am sure given such conditions, many people would rather sit at home and watch the game. Supporters will be turned off and stay away; and worst of all, poor maintenance of the field will ruin the career of the “star” players! Imagine a soccer player running toward an open goal, but he trips over a mud pool, fall, and fails to score; and may even end up with injuries; or a spectator tripping over a beer bottle and fall…the fact is, the cleaners at the stadium are just like the star players, and they play an important role – they are the unseen stars.
On this note, I would like to once again thank these unsung heroes and unseen stars. To all cleaners, your hard work and dedication have provided us with a clean, green and healthy living environment. With that, I wish all of you a Happy Cleaners’ Day!
Thank you.
