Balancing protections and flexibility during economic uncertainty

ASK five working adults who a “workman” is, and you will likely get a mix of different answers.

Under the Employment Act, a workman is an employee who engages in manual labour. While this definition has remained largely unchanged over the years, technological advances have revolutionised the work done by workmen, especially for heavy machinery operators. This can lead to some confusion about coverage of the protections for workmen under the Employment Act.

Many modern-day workmen operate advanced machinery and sophisticated digital systems in highly automated environments. Take, for instance, metal and machinery workers. Instead of physically toiling on the factory floor as they did in the past, many now operate equipment and robots remotely from air-conditioned control rooms.