Important for MOM to manage different interests: Chuan-Jin

SINGAPORE — Managing “very divergent interests” is one of the responsibilities the Manpower Ministry (MOM) has to grapple with, as it tackles critical national issues such as restructuring the economy and retirement adequacy, said Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, who yesterday marked his last day as Manpower Minister.

Reflecting in a blog post on his four years in the position, Mr Tan noted that beyond driving the economy, the MOM’s responsibilities are also social in nature as it has to look after the well-being of the people.

Mr Tan, who was appointed Social and Family Development Minister last month, hands over his manpower portfolio to labour chief Lim Swee Say today.

Commenting on the need to balance different interests — such as employers wanting a “more expansive manpower approach” even as Singaporeans feel local workers must be protected more adequately — Mr Tan said keeping manpower growth tight was the correct way to go, even if companies were not always happy. At the same time, strengthening the Singaporean core approach is more important than taking the Singaporeans-first approach.

“Taking the latter step will hurt our competitiveness and, ultimately, Singaporeans in terms of our ability to provide good opportunities and jobs for our people,” he said. “We must never lose sight of the hard choices we have to make and the people who are at the centre of everything.”

Mr Tan also said tripartism had been at the heart of efforts to improve wages and career progression opportunities for low-wage workers, such as the implementation of the Progressive Wage Model for workers in the security, cleaning and landscaping sectors.

“I confess that I did not fully appreciate the importance of strong tripartite relations when I first joined the MOM ... I know of some people who seem to have the impression that tripartism is not important because industrial relations in Singapore are stable and calm,” he said.

The opposing concerns of employers and the labour movement in areas such as operating costs and wages have been “robustly debated”. “But we are fortunate that the underlying trust between the parties and the willingness to look at longer-term common interests have led to win-win solutions, rather than gridlock or divisions,” he said.

Mr Tan also said progress on ensuring the safety of workers has been reassuring. Regulations and programmes have borne fruit, with the fatality rate last year at an all-time low of 1.8 deaths per 100,000 workers. “The question now is whether we can sustain this ... One life lost is still one life too many, and we certainly need to lower it further,” he said.

As for retirement adequacy, Mr Tan noted that the Central Provident Fund system had been tweaked to improve clarity on payouts and flexibility for lump sum withdrawals. “But all these measures would not translate to a comfortable retirement unless each of us looks carefully at how we save and prepare for our own retirement,” he said.