The Progressive Wage Model (PWM) may be expanded to the food services sector if ongoing studies by tripartite partners bear fruit.
Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad announced that the Tripartite Workgroup on Lower-Wage Workers was studying how the PWM could be implemented in the food services sector on 4 February 2021 at a visit to Jumbo Seafood.
Accompanied by NTUC U SME Director Yeo Wan Ling and Singapore National Federation of Employers (SNEF) Executive Director Sim Gim Guan, Mr Zaqy was at the restaurant to better understand the industry players’ efforts to provide better career opportunities, wages and work environment for lower-wage workers.
The announcement closely follows a tripartite agreement to expand the PWM to the waste management sector.
Mr Zaqy, who also chairs the workgroup, said: “The Tripartite Workgroup for Lower-Wage Workers has been doing our rounds to study various sectors that could potentially look at the progressive wage models within them.
“Today we are going around Jumbo to understand some of the operations and considerations on how they manage staff manpower as well as skills upgrading and training for their workers and career progression.”
Mr Zaqy explained that these were all important aspects to know how PWM could work in the sector so that skills ladders and career pathways can be implemented.
Ms Yeo, who is one of the union representatives in the workgroup, said that the tripartite partners will look into how they can help workers who were already in and those who are looking to move into the sector.
“We have quite a number of females who have told me that they would want to come and join the food services industry because it's an industry that's actually very relatable.
“And because of this, we are working with employers to address some of the issues why they have not been able to come in,” said Ms Yeo.
Ms Yeo is also the director of the Women and Family Unit at NTUC.
She elaborated that NTUC will continue to work with employers, especially the unionised companies, to see how it can redesign jobs to be able to attract more Singapore workers, more young workers, and more female workers, to join the food services industry.
According to the Ministry of Manpower, 60 per cent of the resident full-time employees in the sector earn wages at or below the 20th wage percentile of the local workforce.
The sector is divided into five sub-industries with over 7,200 establishments such as restaurants, fast food outlets, cafes, coffee shops, pubs and caterers.
The tripartite workgroup will issue an interim update by mid-2021 and complete its work by the first quarter of 2022.
