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More funds to help companies train workers, raise wages

SINGAPORE — Unionised companies can receive an additional 10 per cent funding support from the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) from April 2020, when they embark on efforts to improve their workers’ lives.

Labour chief Ng Chee Meng, who spoke at the May Day Rally on Wednesday (May 1), said unions can help liaise between workers and training providers, while also advising businesses on how to tap the “plethora of government grants” that are available to them.

Labour chief Ng Chee Meng, who spoke at the May Day Rally on Wednesday (May 1), said unions can help liaise between workers and training providers, while also advising businesses on how to tap the “plethora of government grants” that are available to them.

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SINGAPORE — Unionised companies can receive an additional 10 per cent funding support from the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) from April 2020, when they embark on efforts to improve their workers’ lives.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said the funds would come under the existing Enterprise Development Grant (EDG), which now provides companies with funding for up to 70 per cent of the cost of projects that would help them innovate, venture overseas or upgrade their workers.

Speaking at the May Day Rally on Wednesday (May 1), Mr Heng said that from April next year, unionised companies and partners of the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) will be able to receive an additional 10 per cent of funding support from the labour movement, on top of the 70 per cent funding from the EDG if they meet two criteria:

  • They must set up a company training committee and

  • Either commit to raising the salaries of their low-wage workers or upgrade their workers’ skills.

“It is important for companies to see workers as key partners in their companies’ transformation, and to make sure their transformation efforts benefit workers,” said Mr Heng.

The aim of company training committees, an initiative launched by NTUC, is to allow the labour movement to embed itself in a company, to help both the workers and employers. The unionists in these committees will be tasked with using their knowledge of the workplace and factory floor to identify the right courses for workers, customise training and help the workers develop relevant skills.

Last year, NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng announced that around 1,000 company training committees will be set up, which are expected to benefit some 330,000 workers.

Mr Heng noted: “The relationship between companies and workers is a mutually reinforcing one — more competitive companies provide better jobs and higher pay for workers, and higher-skilled workers make companies stronger and more productive.”

“Unions are well-positioned to strengthen both,” he added.

Singapore National Employers Federation President Robert Yap welcomed news of the additional funding, saying it was a “good gesture” in ensuring the employability of the Singaporean workforce.

“If our workers are not ready for the future, where do we go? How can businesses transform?”  

Keeping workers relevant would also help businesses to flourish, he added.

Mr Heng also noted in his speech that the very idea of company training committees reflects how “unusual” Singapore’s labour movement is. In other countries, such training schemes would be left to the private sector or governments to initiate, he noted.

He cited cleaning company Chye Thiam Maintenance, which faced challenges in hiring and retaining workers as cleaning is “not an attractive task”.

It signed an agreement to set up a company training committee with Building, Construction and Timber Industries Employees’ Union last week, which will help over 1,500 of its workers become more productive.

The company has also invested heavily in equipment and innovation, and trained their workers to operate the new equipment and processes confidently.

Calling it a “win-win outcome”, Mr Heng said companies that restructure and upgrade workers will lead to them earning more while improving their lives.

Also speaking at the Rally, Mr Ng said that company training committees can help both business and workers to accept and adopt technology.

“Many workers, including some of our union leaders, are scared of technology. They have a fear that technology will take away their job, their livelihood,” said the labour chief.

“If the workers are able to overcome the mindset, then (businesses) have a much higher rate of success and a faster way of grasping our country’s transformation.”

NTUC can also help advise businesses on how to tap the “plethora of government grants” that are available to them, with these company training committees acting as a link between trainers and workers, he added.

Already, 18 companies have signed up to set up such committees since March this year, with “quite a few” more in discussion, said Mr Ng.

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