Amendments to the Industrial Relations (IR) Act that took effect in April 2015 had enabled the Labour Movement to extend its scope of representation to include the growing number of professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) in the workforce.
According to NTUC Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) and Director of NTUC PME Unit Patrick Tay, more than 370 unionised companies from 45 unions have now included PMEs in their scope of representation since the IR Act came into effect. This is an increase from the previous update in July 2015, where only 150 companies from 15 unions represented PMEs.
PME representation can come in the form of Collective Agreements or Memoranda of Understanding between the unions and company management.
LOOKING AFTER PMES
“There is still room for improvement and we will continue on our journey,” said ASG Tay. Initiatives like the NTUC PME Resource Group, set up in 2015 and comprising representatives from industry clusters and NTUC, has trained 1,700 union leaders to better understand and serve the diverse needs of PMEs at the workplace.
PMEs can also look forward to more workplace support with the expansion of the Tripartite Mediation Framework and Employment Claims Tribunal later this year.
ASG Tay also hopes that more employers will be open and understanding towards the Labour Movement’s efforts to look after the needs of PMEs, especially in this climate of economic uncertainty.
“The Labour Movement, through our union network and our U Associates, want to continue this eff ort to look after PMEs and look forward to having more PMEs be a part of the Labour Movement,” he said.
