Work trends change, but a strong labour movement still crucial

A STRONG labour movement remains crucial to Singapore - even as the future of work looks very different, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his May Day Message for this year.

Mr Lee called on unions to continue to be constructive and cooperative with employers and government - as they have done in the past 50 years to deliver better incomes for workers and steady progress for the country.

"We must stay on this path and strengthen trust and cooperation among the tripartite partners, so that despite the uncertainties and challenges in the global economy, we can continue to thrive and prosper together as a nation," he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat is expected to spell out how the government will continue to support the unions to develop an adaptable and future-ready workforce, when he delivers the keynote address at today's May Day Rally.

Mr Lee noted that in many developed countries, union membership is declining and organised labour is being marginalised.

"Workers' concerns are not addressed and they feel bewildered, leaderless and helpless," he said. "Not surprisingly, they turn to extreme, nativist political movements that pander to their fears and insecurity, but offer no realistic solutions or inspiring leadership to improve their lives." Mr Lee said Singapore's labour movement is at another turning point today, with the external environment changing fast and new jobs being created even as old industries and jobs are riding into the sunset.

"The NTUC must anticipate these challenges and prepare the unions, union leaders and workers... early, before they overwhelm us," he said.

Mr Lee pointed out that the NTUC has played a major role in promoting the re-employment of older workers and helped build tripartite consensus to raise retirement and re-employment ages further. It has championed the progressive wage model which, together with the Workfare plan, has made a real difference to lower wage workers.

The NTUC has also collaborated with the government to upgrade and retrain workers, kicking off many programmes under the SkillsFuture and Adapt and Grow schemes, Mr Lee said. "We continue to improve the programmes as we gain experience with them and new needs emerge."

These included the Automation Support Package and the Productivity Solutions Grants introduced this year, which help employers to adopt technology and become more productive.

Mr Lee said the retraining and upgrading efforts are starting to pay off at the macro level. He indicated that labour productivity jumped 3.7 per cent last year, while the retrenchment rate was the lowest in more than 10 years.

Though the improvement made in labour productivity was not evenly spread, Mr Lee said it was "a good result". The gains were largely in the outward-oriented sectors, especially manufacturing. "We still need to work harder to improve productivity in domestic services, such as retail and food and beverages," he said.

On the low retrenchment rate, Mr Lee said: "Our efforts to retrain employees and prepare them to handle new technology and different jobs made a difference. Had we not strongly emphasised training, upgrading and redeploying staff, companies might have taken the easy way out, retrenching old workers and replacing them with freshly hired new graduates and the dislocation would have been much worse."

He said Singapore must keep up its efforts at training and upgrading. "It is a marathon without end, but we are making progress."