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The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) supports the National Wages Council (NWC) guidelines for 2017/18 and urges the tripartite partners to work closely to push forth productivity growth, help businesses innovate and workers to upgrade their skillsets through the implementation of the Industry Transformation Maps to achieve sustainable wage increases for all.
Melvin Yong, Director(Tripartism), NTUC, who is a member of this year’s NWC Committee, shared the below post in his Facebook in response to the NWC guidelines:
“This year, I had the opportunity to represent the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) in drafting the 2017/18 National Wages Council (NWC) Guidelines. The tripartite team faced a challenging task in developing a set of guidelines that balances the needs of both employers and workers, while taking into account prevailing business conditions, labour market performance, productivity growth and the overall economic outlook. I am glad that the latest guidelines continue to pay special attention to those earning lower wages, contract workers and mature workers.
Since September 2016, 7 Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) have been introduced, with 16 more ITMs slated to be launched in the near future. It is important for the tripartite partners to work closely together to operationalise the ITMs, and do more to help businesses innovate and workers to upgrade their skillsets. Only through successful implementation of the ITMs, can we drive economic and productivity growth, create higher value and better paying jobs, and achieve sustainable wage increases for all.
The last 5 rounds of NWC quantitative wage recommendations have made a positive impact on our lower-wage workers. Since the introduction of quantitative guidelines in 2012, the number of full-time resident employees earning $1,000 and below has since reduced by more than half. The increase in the basic wage threshold from $1,000 to $1,100 in 2015 has also helped to maintain this momentum. Thus, it is heartening that we have our tripartite partners’ strong support to further increase the basic wage threshold this year, from $1,100 to $1,200, to benefit more workers. This clearly shows the NWC’s continued commitment to support our lower-wage workers. On our part, NTUC will continue to work closely with our tripartite partners, and through our network of unions, professional associations and SME partners to push for higher adoption of the guidelines.
As the economy continues to transform, companies will have to restructure to adopt new technologies and adapt to new markets. In this process, some workers may be displaced. We urge employers to carry out any retrenchment exercise in a fair and responsible manner and to work closely with NTUC to render employment and training assistance to affected workers.”
Melvin Yong
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