May Day Rally 2011

NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say

NTUC President John de Payva

Ministers, Business and Union Leaders

Comrades, Brothers and Sisters

 

This year is the 50^th Anniversary of NTUC

a.  Labour movement has been a key partner in Singapore’s success

b.  NTUC has taken good care of workers over the last half century

i. Representing their interests

ii.  Upgrading their skills

iii.  Helping them secure good jobs and hence better lives

c.  Commend NTUC for its achievements and contributions

 

Singapore has had a very good year

a.  Fully shaken off effects of global economic crisis

b.  Economy grew 8.5% in 1Q, on target to achieve 4-6% this year

c.  Many jobs created

i. IRs

ii.  Financial sector – StanChart, UOB (to service SE Asia)

iii.  Manufacturing – Rolls-Royce (aerospace), Agilent Technologies (life sciences), Lanxess (chemicals)

d.  Pushed unemployment down to a very low 1.9% (virtually full employment)

e.  More projects on the way

i. e.g. opened IM Flash (at North Shore in Sembawang) less than two weeks ago

ii.  State-of-the-art wafer fab, jointly opened by Intel and Micron

iii.  US$3 bn investment, creating 1,200 jobs

iv.  Singapore won investment against strong global competition

v.  Because we had the best workforce in the world, worked as one Singa­pore team led by EDB, made ourselves the most compelling location, and out-competed countries with lower costs

 

Workers enjoying better pay due to our strong economic performance

a.  Wages and bonuses already significantly up last year

b.  NWC just recommended higher total wage increases for workers

c.  First such recommendation in many years

d.  Employers can see NTUC playing constructive role, recognise workers’ sacrifices during hard times, agree they should be rewarded in good times

e.  Happy to see such an outcome, unique to Singapore

 

Strong testimony that our strategy to improve workers’ lives has worked

a.  Promoted growth

b.  Attracted high quality investments

c.  Created many new jobs

d.  Stimulated demand for Singaporean workers

e.  Hence secured higher pay for our workers

 

Word of caution: we should not go overboard

a.  If built-in wages go up too much and too fast

i. We may lose competitiveness

ii.  Become vulnerable to a global shock

iii.  Generate a wage-price spiral that feeds inflation

b.  These will hurt our economy and further raise cost of living

c.  Hence, even as NWC calls for sharing of more gains with workers, it also calls for keeping our wages flexible and responsive

 

Also continue pursuing productivity improvements

a.  Especially in services and construction sectors

 

Government making a major effort to help existing workers upgrade

a.  National Productivity and Continuing Education Council (NPCEC) focused on this

b.  Upgrading jobs and workers’ skills, sector-by-sector

c.  Not just rank-and-file workers, but PMETs too

d.  Government will spend $2.5 bn on Continuing Education and Training (CET) over next 5 years

 

We are also preparing our future workers well, e.g. ITE College West

a.  Opened just two weeks ago

b.  Second campus after ITE College East five years ago; ITE College Central will be completed in 2013

c.  Excellent facilities, programmes and staff, producing outstanding technical students

i. Trained with “thinking hands”

ii.  Solid grounding and relevant skills to do good jobs, or go on to polytechnic

iii.  Much sought after by employers

d.  Proud of our ITEs

e.  Hardly any other country with anything similar or comparable

f. Shows our commitment to give the best education to all our students, across the board

 

Ensuring good jobs – for present and future workers – is the first responsibility of any government

a.  This is what the PAP has delivered, and will continue to deliver

b.  This is what voters must ask any political party seeking their support – how will they create growth and jobs for Singaporeans?

 

We should hold to our successful formula that has provided good jobs and better pay over a long term

a.  Invest in our people

b.  Keep Singapore the best place for business

c.  Meanwhile, deal with short term issues

 

E.g. cost of living

a.  Problem this year, mainly for food and energy

b.  Caused by external events

i. Upheavals in Middle East pushing up oil prices

ii.  Poor harvests in farming countries pushing up food prices

c.  People understandably worried

d.  Public upset all over Asia, forcing governments to take action

i. e.g. China – food suppliers ordered to keep prices stable

ii.  e.g. India – banned onion exports, and contemplating rice export ban

iii.  e.g. Indonesia – President asked households to plant their own food (e.g. chillies) and eat less rice (and more sweet potatoes)

e.  Singapore

i. Different situation – we import all our food and energy

ii.  What can we do to tackle problem?

 

Our best long-term response is to ensure workers have jobs and steady increase in real wages

a.  But we are also implementing many shorter term measures

 

First, by keeping the Singapore dollar strong

a.  Economy strong, confidence in Singa­pore high, so we are able to maintain a strong Singapore dollar

b.  Singapore dollar has been appreciating

i. A year ago US$1 was worth about S$1.40

ii.  Today it is close to S$1.22

iii.  i.e. about 15% increase in value against US$

c.  This has preserved the purchasing power of your pay, and CPF savings

d.  If our exchange rate had stayed at S$1.40, local prices would have gone up much more

 

Second, by targeting help in specific areas and to groups who need it

a.  MOF has sent out letters explaining the various help in the “Grow & Share” package, and also listed them in flyers in ST and ZB [flyer]

b.  Individual items to meet specific problems directly – U-Save for utilities bills, pre-school subsidies for those with young children, Medisave top-ups for older citizens

c.  Up to $4,000 per household – more than rise in cost of living for most families

d.  Singaporeans would have already received some of the benefits, especially Growth Dividends over last few days; the others are on the way

e.  Please do not spend them immediately, but keep them to help meet the higher costs you will encounter during this year

 

I know that despite the Grow & Share package, Singa­poreans still worried about cost of living

a.  The Govern­ment will continue to focus on this

b.  And the ministers and I are personally focussed too

c.  To track what is happening elsewhere which can impact our prices

d.  To find ways to buffer ourselves

e.  To manage our domestic costs, especially housing

i. HDB prices

ii.  Predicament of the sandwich group, which worries that if they do not get a BTO flat soon, their incomes may rise beyond the $8,000 ceiling

 

Beyond helping with cost of living, making special efforts to help low income workers,

a.  Workfare to top up wages, especially for older workers

b.  Workfare Special Bonus – another 50% increase in payout this year

c.  Means:

i. Worker earning $1,000 a month aged 35-44 gets $130 more

ii.  If he is 60 years and above, he gets $350 more

iii.  Fully funded by the Government, so no burden on employers

iv.  Available to self-employed too

d.  But also need to upgrade their skills and productivity – most effective and sustainable approach

 

NTUC’s e2i playing key role

a.  Trained 16,000 rank-and-file workers and 7,000 PMETs last year

b.  Very often full solutions needed – e2i works with employers to implement new systems and train workers to operate them

c.  e.g. Hotel Ibis in Novena

i. Worked with e2i on five projects to improve productivity

(1)  Capture F&B orders electronically, and sync with room accounts, thus reducing errors and waiting time for guests

(2)  Automate payroll and staff rostering

(3)  Cross-train staff to do work in different departments

ii.  Result – savings to company, and local staff get 13% wage increase

 

Also measures to help older workers

a.  Government helping older workers to get and stay in jobs

b.  Passed reemployment legislation

i. Under re-employment law, most will be able to work till 65

ii.  If a worker cannot do the same job, the employer has to help him find an alternative suitable job

c.  Giving out Special Employment Credit to companies with Singapore workers aged 55 and above

d.  Encouraging companies to adapt jobs

i. e.g. to use new equipment that helps older workers do the work efficiently and quickly

 

E.g. Home-Fix, a DIY store

a.  Physically demanding for older staff to do price-tagging

b.  So Home-Fix tapped on ADVANTAGE! funding to develop electronic price tagging system

c.  Also introduced “Best Gold Collar Award” to recognise outstanding mature employees

 

Good results nationwide

a.  Employment rate of residents aged 55 – 64 stayed stable through downturn, then rose when economy recovered last year

b.  Now about six in ten residents aged 55 – 64 are employed

c.  Unionised sector taking lead – more than 90% of companies have adopted re-employment, and more than 10,000 workers over 62 have been re-employed

 

Confident that we can deal with these and other issues

a.  Tripartite partnership a key factor and advantage

b.  One major reason why we emerged so rapidly and strongly from the global crisis

c.  Unions have made an invaluable contribution to our tripartism

d.  Singa­pore’s future depends on dynamic, forward looking unions, who will continue improving workers’ lives

 

NTUC has to strengthen and renew itself

a.  Both in Central Committee and in member unions

b.  Train new leaders who can build on what past labour leaders have achieved

i. Committed to tripartism

ii.  Able to work with employers to help companies and workers become more productive and do better

iii.  Able to rally workers to tackle the challenges of the future

 

NTUC has come up with two key initiatives to:

a.  Build up a three generation (3G) membership base of 1 million

b.  Develop future generation of leaders through a 3F framework

i. Flow-in new leaders

ii.  Flow-up promising leaders

iii.  Flow-on existing leaders

iv.  Hence facilitate self renewal of labour leadership at all levels

c.  Starting a NTUC50 Development Fund to support the two programmes – 3G and 3F

d.  Target to raise $50 mn

 

Government will help

a.  We will provide 3-to-1 matching

b.  So labour movement just needs to raise $12.5 mn, and Government will give a grant of $37.5 mn

c.  This is a vital investment to keep NTUC relevant and effective

d.  Also a symbol of Government’s full support for the union movement and Singapore workers

 

Significant number of MPs are from the labour movement

a.  They make important contributions

i. Looked after workers’ interests

ii.  Given workers a strong voice in national policies

iii.  Ensured that policies are pro-workers and pro-Singapore

b.  Current slate includes a good number of NTUC candidates

i. Mr Ong Ye Kung and Mr Ang Hin Kee from e2i

ii.  4 more from IR (Mr Patrick Tay, Mr Zainal Sapari) and Young NTUC (Mr Desmond Choo and Mr Alex Yam)

c.  They will make good MPs and office holders

d.  Hope to bring in more in future GEs

 

Congratulate NTUC on its 50th Anniversary

a.  NTUC will continue to have an important role in the next 50 years

b.  Will be a different world, full of challenges but also opportunities

c.  Future can be bright for us, if we work hard together

d.  Let us cooperate to strive for better jobs, better pay and better lives for our workers, the people of Singapore