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Labour Movement’s Dedication to Helping Women Workers
Indeed, for more than five decades, it has been the strong and dedicated leadership of past and present women union leaders in the Labour Movement that has helped many women workers make progress and be successful both at work and at home.
For example, in 1977 when women were entering the workforce in large numbers, NTUC Childcare was setup through the efforts of the NTUC Women’s Programme to provide childcare services so that mothers could work with a peace of mind.
Faced with challenges of juggling dual roles, women were exiting the workforce prematurely. In 2007, NTUC Women’s Development Secretariat (WDS) and the women union leaders worked together with NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) to place women who wanted to go back into the workforce in jobs via the Back to Work with U programme. Since then, there have been sustained efforts in facilitating women’s re-entry back to the workforce. In 2017, NTUC WAF piloted the “Returner Work Trial” programme to assist woman Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) who have been out of work for at least two years.
Looking ahead where the economy is expected to transform even faster; where industries, work, jobs and skills will continue to evolve; and where there will be challenges and opportunities, women union leaders are expected to continue to hear the ground and lead the way. SG Ng Chee Meng said at the symposium, “Today, as we face a tighter labour force and limited manpower growth, every worker matters. Our working woman matters. Therefore, we must strive to support our working women to keep up with the transformation of our economy.” Thus, women union leaders will continue to have an important role to play in Singapore’s economic and social progress and development.
With close to half of Singapore’s resident workforce made up of women, the Labour Movement remains committed to groom women union leaders for the future so that they, in turn, can be a stronger voice for working women’s concerns and aspirations. A key priority will be to help women remain in the workforce while fulfilling their caregiving roles. To achieve this, the Labour Movement will leverage the strong tripartite partnerships in transforming more workplaces into a family-friendly environment with:
a) Flexible Work Arrangements
Over the years, tripartite partners have come together to promote flexible work arrangements as a key tool to get women back to work as well as to prevent women from leaving the workforce. With the commitment and efforts of all tripartite partners, flexible work arrangements have been on the rise. Since the launch of the Tripartite Standards initiative in 2017, the Labour Movement has assisted many companies in its network in adopting the Tripartite Standards on Flexible Work Arrangements.
As our workforce size is expected to shrink due to aging population, employers must offer flexibility in work options to meet their manpower needs to continue tapping on the female talent pool, including the currently untapped pool of women caregivers at home.
b) Caregiving Support
The employment rate of female workers aged between 30 to 60 begins to decline as the focus of these group of women tends to shift towards childcare and caregiving needs. To retain women in the workforce, employers’ support towards helping women manage their caregiving responsibilities through additional leave schemes and benefits are important. As of February 2019, more than one-third of unionised companies provide at least one type of caregiving leave (for example, family care leave, eldercare leave or family sick leave).
At today’s symposium, there was a walk-in gallery that featured past and present outstanding women union leaders who had made a difference in the lives of their workers, families and communities by stepping up as leaders in their own fields. They included President Halimah Yacob, who was NTUC’s former Deputy Secretary-General; Manpower Minister Josephine Teo, who was NTUC’s former Assistant Secretary-General; Ms Diana Chia, who was the former President of NTUC; and Ms K Thanaletchimi, President of the Healthcare Services Employees Union.
As Ms Annabella Sim, the first woman leader elected to NTUC Central Committee and the founding chairperson of NTUC’s Women’s Committee, said: “Given equal opportunities, we can advance hand in hand with our brothers to build a better society.” Indeed, our women union leaders and workers, can and will lead the march and make a difference.
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