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NTUC starts job security council with over 4,000 firms aboard to help retrenched workers

SINGAPORE — With the Covid-19 outbreak exacting a toll on Singapore’s economy, the labour movement is setting up a job security council to better match retrenched workers with job vacancies.

Announcing the move in Parliament on Wednesday (Feb 26), Mr Ng Chee Meng, secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), said the job security council would create an “ecosystem” of companies that can take in skilled workers who are displaced from other firms.

Announcing the move in Parliament on Wednesday (Feb 26), Mr Ng Chee Meng, secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), said the job security council would create an “ecosystem” of companies that can take in skilled workers who are displaced from other firms.

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SINGAPORE — With the Covid-19 outbreak exacting a toll on Singapore’s economy, the labour movement is setting up a job security council to better match retrenched workers with job vacancies.

For a start, more than 4,000 companies from a range of industries are on the pilot scheme.

These include multinationals such as engineering giants Rolls-Royce and GE Aviation, as well as startups and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in industries as diverse as the wholesale trade, engineering, and food and beverage.

More than nine in 10 firms on the programme are SMEs.

Announcing the move in Parliament on Wednesday (Feb 26), Mr Ng Chee Meng, secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), said the job security council would create an “ecosystem” of companies that can take in skilled workers who are displaced from other firms.

It comes as workers across many sectors are affected by the coronavirus outbreak, which has sickened nearly 100 in Singapore.

Mr Ng said workers are worried about keeping up a steady income amid the uncertainties.

They are also unsure if they can stay in their jobs and fear lower incomes with reduced work, as hotel occupancy, visitors to tourist attractions, and earnings for taxi and private-hire car services nosedive.

But the picture across the economy is uneven, said Mr Ng. While some firms are facing a shortage of workers, others face an excess, he said.

MOVING WORKERS INTO JOBS

The job security council will work with firms to gather information on job vacancies, roles that may be phased out, and jobs that could be redesigned for workers and professionals, managers and executives, said Mr Ng, who is also a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.

It will then match these workers with job openings in the network, identify the skills needed, and help workers attain those skills through training where needed, Mr Ng said on the first day of debate on the Budget statement, which Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat delivered last week.

Mr Ng said there was rising concern among workers, especially those in their 40s or 50s, who are displaced because their skills have become redundant as technology evolves. 

In a press statement, the NTUC said that the council would match workers to jobs before they are displaced, and work with its training partners to help workers plug gaps in skills.

The NTUC said moving workers into new jobs and equipping them with the right skills before they are displaced will cut downtime spent searching for a job without an income.

The council can also help firms gain access to government schemes, such as the new SkillsFuture Mid-Career Support Package, which will help mid-career professionals move into jobs.

The package, announced by Mr Heng last week, includes a hiring incentive. Employers who take on local jobseekers aged 40 and older through a reskilling programme will receive government grants covering 20 per cent of a worker’s salary for six months, capped at S$6,000.

Mr Ng said companies that work with the job security council would benefit from a lower-cost, ready-made recruitment tool, with the “bonus of training and skills upgrading for our workers”.

“Companies will also have access to a community of human-resources personnel and senior management sharing best practices and progressive employment standards,” he told Parliament.

“Through the job security council, we want to create a win-win for the companies and the workers. We hope to lessen the anxiety for workers and professionals, managers and executives, and assure them that... the labour movement is doing what we can to help them find good jobs.”

Mr Lee Chit Shung, managing director of pastry company Montreux Patisserie, said the council’s set-up marked a significant step in promoting staff retention in the bakery and confectionery industry.

Mr Bicky Bhangu, Rolls-Royce Singapore’s president of Southeast Asia, Pacific and South Korea, said the initiative would help train and expand the pool of aerospace workers.

“We look forward to the job-security-council referral mechanism in helping companies in high-value manufacturing like us to secure skilled workers, to raise production capabilities and meet… global industry demand,” he said. 

Displaced workers who need help may approach NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute, which runs the job security council.

Related topics

Ng Chee Meng worker NTUC careers business and finance industries

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