A new sectoral tripartite committee (STC) will be set up soon to look into attracting, developing and retaining locals in the lift and escalator industry. The STC will consist of leaders from the public and private sectors, industry associations and trade unions.
This was announced by Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Desmond Lee at the BCA-Industry Built Environment ITE Scholarship Award Ceremony 2017 on 13 February 2017.
Building and Construction Authority (BCA) CEO John Keung said: “We need a strong core of skilled workers at all levels to ensure our lifts and escalators are regularly and properly maintained to meet the tightened lift and escalator safety requirements.
“Manpower is also needed to cope with the increase in the number of lifts and escalators, with more buildings in the pipeline. The STC will work closely with the industry to address the manpower needs of the sector.”
NTUC Industrial Relations (Field) Director Melvin Yong said that the Labour Movement will work closely with partners to address the challenges in the industry.
Posting on his Facebook page, he said: “The most important would be to attract new entrants into the industry and to create a steady pipeline of talents. To do so, we need to first review and uplift the salaries of our lift and escalator technicians through building a competency framework. This is so that our technicians can be well-trained, certified and enjoy better salaries and career progression.”
Currently, there are more than 2,000 technicians maintaining about 63,000 lifts and 6,000 escalators in Singapore.
Making Improvements
Meanwhile, BCA, NTUC, NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute), the Singapore Lift and Escalator Contractors and Manufacturers Association and 10 companies inked a memorandum of understanding at the award ceremony.
Together, they will support scholarships and sponsorship programmes, Earn and Learn programmes and job fairs. They will also work with relevant agencies to ensure that the sector continues to offer attractive and relevant jobs.
The Award Ceremony
The award ceremony saw a total of 108 scholarships presented to students in the ITE built environment courses. This year, 14 firms have co-sponsored students through the BCA-Industry ITE Scholarship programme. The scholarship is offered by BCA in collaboration with industry firms to students pursuing full-time built environment courses in ITE.
