Rain or shine, in crisis, or business as usual, our public transport workers have been essential in providing smooth, efficient, and uninterrupted transport services to the people of Singapore.
Their unwavering dedication to keeping Singapore going has not gone unnoticed.
On 21 January 2022, the eve of the Lunar New Year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong joined NTUC President Mary Liew, NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng and National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) union leaders on a visit to thank public transport workers for their hard work at the Woodlands Integrated Transport Hub (WITH) bus interchange.
The visit is an annual tradition for Labour Movement leaders to spread the festive cheer to workers such as bus captains and administrative staff.
It was also to show appreciation to them for continuing to provide essential transport services during the Lunar New Year period.
Also joining in the appreciation event were Senior Minister of State for Manpower and Defence Zaqy Mohamad, Senior Minister of State for Transport and Finance Chee Hong Tat, Land Transport Authority (LTA) Chief Executive Ng Lang and SMRT Corporation management representatives.
PM Lee presented workers at the event with Lunar New Year gift bags filled with red packets, mandarin oranges, a carrier pouch, chips, and disposable face masks.
SMRT Corporation Ltd, a unionised company under NTWU, hosted this year’s visit.
Since public transport workers provide such an essential service, NTUC said that developing a strong Singaporean core workforce is imperative.
To this end, NTUC has been working with industry stakeholders and tripartite partners since 2012 to upskill workers, especially bus captains, to enhance their career prospects.
Under the progressive wage structure for the Transport & Logistics Services Cluster that includes bus captains, nearly 10,000 workers from the four Public Transport Operators (PTOs) saw their basic salary rise from $1,375 before 2012 to $2,150 today.
Aside from raising wages, the structure included skills, productivity, and career enhancements.
LTA has also been doing its part to support public transport workers’ progress.
Plans are also underway to train bus captains and technicians to handle electric buses. The plans align with LTA’s aim to convert half of the nation’s public bus fleet to electric buses by 2030.
To support the move, the Singapore Bus Academy has partnered the union, higher learning institutes, and bus operators to roll out relevant training programmes for bus workers.
As they face the public daily, public transport workers’ safety and welfare also remain key.
To ensure that the public transport system continued to run during the COVID-19 pandemic, NTWU collaborated with LTA and the PTOs to introduce various health and safety measures for normal and high infection periods.
These included regular temperature taking, routine testing and mental well-being support.
NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng said that NTUC will continue to do more for public transport workers.
He said: “Today, when we visited the Woodlands transport depot, it is really good to greet the bus captains who have done so much in the last two, three years.
“We will continue to champion their interests just as we have done over the last decade. In the way of NTUC moving the wages, I'm very happy that the bus drivers now earn maybe even up to 50 per cent more than what they did 10 years ago.
“We're continuing to push for their welfare in terms of rest areas, lounge areas, and better work prospects even as the economy transforms.”
