Welcome
A very warm welcome to the U Care Back to School Fair 2010!
I am very happy to see so many of you….
1 About Labour Movement’s U Care Initiative
1.1 The Labour Movement and NTUC have been championing for the interests of our workers for the last 49 years, and we will continue to do so to help working people of All Ages, All Collars and All Nationalities. We also help our members through meaningful assistance programmes from the U Care Fund.
1.2 Today, I am happy to round up this year’s U Care Fund efforts with $4.75 million distributed in December alone. For 2010, with the economy picking up, we resumed our efforts and distributed over $8.3 million in assistance programmes. The U Care Fund distributed about 64,000 vouchers, 6,800 scholarships and bursaries, and 10,200 recreation packages to union members and their families.
1.3 We have a vision, and that is to be the Most Caring Labour Movement in the world.
1.4 We care for our workers, our members and their families. We also care for the community, needy children and the elderly.
1.5 We want to help them improve their lives. We want to level up the playing field for the children and youth. We want to support the elderly in a meaningful way.
1.6 We would not have been able to do this by ourselves. We are grateful for the support of our generous donors, especially the Singapore Labour Foundation, our social enterprises such as NTUC FairPrice Foundation, NTUC Choice Homes, NTUC Income, NTUC Club just to name a few; our affiliated unions, our management partners, and corporate donors. We thank them for their unstinting support over the years and believing in what we do.
2 U Care Programmes
2.1 One of our core programmes, we gave out U Stretch Vouchers to our low-income members who are the workers of today. These are discount vouchers where they could use them to buy groceries; or medication; or pay for eldercare services among others. The main objective is to help them cope with the higher cost of living so as to lessen their daily expenses.
2.2 We also know that many lower income members are busy making a living to support their families. But while they work hard, we feel that it is important for them to find time to bond with their children and family as well. This will build family resilience which will help them to weather any challenges they may face. So, to encourage family bonding, we have the Family Recreation & Fun Carnivals which provide our lower income members and their families one day of fun at Downtown East. Fully sponsored by NTUC Club, these carnivals are held a few times a year.
2.3 Another area which we are committed to is to help the elderly in our community. They are the workers of yesterdayand have contributed to our nation-building. We supported the NTUC Eldercare Trust through a $1 million donation as the services provided to the elderly help them stay active and healthy in their golden years.
2.4 As the saying goes: “Teach a man how to fish, and you teach him for life.” We strongly believe in the importance of a good education. And a good education must start from the very young. Therefore, we are committed to help young children from low-income families to have a head-start through pre-school education. It is for this reason that U Care Fund will be making a $1 million donation to the NTUC First Campus Bright Horizons Fund to help needy children attend pre-school.
2.5 And to the workers of tomorrow, our children and youth, we want to encourage them to continue to study hard and pursue their dreams. Therefore, we support our affiliated unions through funding support for scholarships and bursaries. The U Care Scholarship/Bursary Top-Up Schemetherefore motivates our members’ children to excel in their studies and levels up their playing field.
2.6 Another core programme we have is the Back to School Vouchers. These vouchers aim to help our low-income members defray the cost of their children’s school expenses for the new school year. We feel that the once-a-year expenditure of getting new school supplies for their children may pose quite a financial burden, especially if they have more than one child. Therefore, the Back to School vouchers will help them to buy new textbooks, uniforms and school shoes for their children.
2.7 And to help our members stretch their dollar further, NTUC organised the U Care Back to School Fair, starting today, which offers exclusive discounts and special deals on school-related merchandise for all our union members.
3 U Care Back to School Fair
3.1 The U Care Back to School Fair is a union members’ exclusive and we intend to do this every December to bring value to our members.
3.2 This year, we have increased the fair to 3 days, from today till this Sunday. We hope this allows more time for our members to visit the Fair to enjoy the savings.
3.3 We want to thank all our participating partners, NTUC FairPrice, BATA, POPULAR, PC Connect, The Point Optical, Evergreen Stationery and Pacific Bookstores, who supported our Fair by offering the special promotions to our members. I am sure the specials deals will be welcomed by our members. In addition, we are glad that the Toa Payoh Public Library is also supporting us by specially selecting relevant books for members to borrow at the Fair.
3.4 Besides the special promotions, we have also lined up 3-day of exciting stage activities. In particular, I would like to thank our NTUC membership communities, nEbO and U Family, as well as My First Skool for their participation, and also to the YOG Team Cubs for agreeing to be here to interact with our members this evening.
4 Conclusion
4.1 Time really flies, and the year is quickly coming to an end. As we conclude our U Care efforts this year, the Labour Movement will remain committed to help our members to earn a better living and lead better lives. We will continue to assess our assistance programmes so as to stay relevant to our members’ needs for the years to come.
4.2 Lastly, may I take this opportunity to wish you in advance, a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and hope you will enjoy shopping at the U Care Back to School Fair. Thank you.
