Singapore’s 12th Parliament got off to a resounding start on 17 October 2011 after the watershed General Elections on 7 May 2011. Some 70 Members of Parliament, including 10 Labour MPs, debated for a week on President Tony Tan Keng Yam’s Address at the opening of Parliament on 10 October 2011.
Speaking on the last day of debates, 21 October 2011, NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say reminded the House that far more important than political posturing and clever speech-making is the critical need to work together “because what is at stake is the future of the country and the lives of people.”
In a troubled world, Singapore has “to be hard-headed in making sure that we will remain competitive as an economy for a long time to come. Joblessness is not something to be taken lightly.”
During the Asian Financial Crisis, he worried even though Singapore’s unemployment rate of about 3-4 per cent then was comparatively not bad. It's because “unemployment could be 3-4 per cent but to the person who is unemployed, unemployment rate is 100 per cent. People who are unemployed are under tremendous stress.”
On a visit to France in 1999, SG Lim said the desperate long-term unemployed on welfare were on strike demanding for a holiday allowance. When criticised, they replied: “Do you know that we unemployed live a life a lot more stressful than those who are employed because every day we wake up with no idea how to spend the day and there is no end to that kind of suffering.”
Even as Singapore today ranks alongside OECD countries in terms of per capita income, he warned “we should not take our job creation in Singapore lightly. Remember, our workers talk about higher cost of living, and are pushing for real wage increase. But just imagine if a worker has no job. Even if you can push for 10 per cent wage increase, as far as he is concerned his wage increase of 10 per cent of zero is still zero.”
The danger is real and it is why the Labour Movement works hard with the tripartite partners to enhance competiveness so as to stay ahead of global competition, he stressed.
To do so requires a ‘Cheaper, Better, Faster’ economy. Taking pains to show why it is not just a catchy phrase, he said: “I explained in this House before and I do not mind saying again that there is a big difference between ‘Cheaper, Better, Faster’ workers versus ‘Cheaper, Better, Faster’ products and services. What the NTUC, what the tripartite partners are calling for, is to pursue ‘Cheaper, Better, Faster’ products and services, pursue a ‘Cheaper, Better, Faster’ economy, not a ‘Cheaper, Better, Faster’ workforce.”
On foreign workers, SG Lim said the Labour Movement has always maintained “that foreign workers are not our enemy because foreign workers are here to perform a useful role, a supporting role.”
And as for skills upgrading of foreign workers, “are we better off having one skilled foreign worker instead of two unskilled foreign workers in Singapore? If the one skilled foreign worker can do the job of two unskilled workers, we will be able to reduce the social cost of foreign workers in Singapore and yet at the same time take advantage of their contribution to the Singapore economy.
“Likewise, what about foreign PMEs? The Labour Movement lately has been advocating the need to have more protection for our PMEs. But does this mean that the Labour Movement is advocating a no foreign PME policy? It cannot be.”
To drive home his point about how ‘Cheaper, Better, Faster’ and glocalisation works, NTUC
Secretary-General Lim Swee Say gave two examples in Parliament.
‘Cheaper, Better, Faster’ Is Real And Happening
SG Lim described a visit to CIBA Vision Asian Manufacturing And Logistics Pte Ltd, unionised under the Chemical Industries Employees’ Union, which produces precision optics. About eight production lines were designed by engineers from Germany and installed here. After Singapore engineers operated the lines for a few years, they designed the next line.
“The line was designed cheaper than the eight lines designed by the German engineers, is able to produce better products, better quality, lower reject rates. But, more importantly, it produces output at a pace that is much faster than the German line. The line designed by the Singapore engineers is what we call a 'Cheaper, Better, Faster’ line.”
Rolls Royce Rolls Into Town
Another example was Rolls Royce, one of the world’s leading companies in many areas including aircraft engines. Rolls Royce is investing billions of dollars to build a facility at Seletar Aerospace Park.
Calling it “the factory of the future in Singapore”, SG Lim said: “This factory in Singapore will be handling their most coveted technologies, at the same time using the most advanced production processes not seen in Singapore, not seen in this part of the world and they will have the best team of people to handle the plant.”
Singaporeans alone cannot run the plant yet because of lack of relevant experience and expertise.
Glo-calisation
“But what Rolls Royce is doing is to bring the latest technology to Singapore. They will bring the latest expertise to Singapore, but it will go through a process called `glo-calisation’. They globalise their operations to Singapore, at the same time they will localise expertise over time here. This is what we are talking about.”
CORE-calisation
“When the Labour Movement talks about Singapore first, we are not advocating Singaporeans only policy because, at the end of the day, that will only hurt us.
What we are advocating is a concept of `CORE-calisation’. In every sector of the economy, there should be a core of Singaporeans being nurtured to lead the future development of those sectors.”
| CBF Decoded | ||
| At the CIBA Vision Learning Journey on 3 June 2010, NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say clarified two common misconceptions about the Labour Movement’s 'Cheaper Better Faster' strategy. CBF Does Not Apply To The Worker “CBF does not refer to the worker. We are not here to make the worker a cheaper worker or a Cheaper Better Faster worker, where ‘Cheaper’ means low salary, ‘Better’ means up the skill, ‘Faster’ means work faster. CBF is not targeted at workers, but rather businesses, and how to make the products and services of the businesses Cheaper Better Faster.” Companies Must Be C And B And F “In some companies, being Cheaper is what they need to survive. In some companies, being Better now is what they need to survive. In some companies, it is Faster. Many companies feel that for long term survival, it is not a question of Cheaper or Better or Faster, but really you need to achieve all three all at the same time.” |
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"My point is that ‘Cheaper, Better, Faster’ is a concept that should not be taken lightly. It is a concept I firmly believe in. It is not a concept that I just dreamed up of. After all the years at EDB (Economic Development Board) walking around the world to look for investments, I can say that being 'Cheaper, Better, Faster’ is the most effective secret weapon of Singapore.”
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“Remember this: 50 years from now when some of us are dead and gone, by then Singapore would still be less than 100 years old - 96. For a person, 96 is old. But for a country, 96 is still a young nation. Let us make sure that Singapore will be a nation that is always progressing, always succeeding, because it is the only way for a small nation like Singapore to keep surviving.”
