SINGAPORE — To keep up with the evolving economy and changing needs of the workforce, the labour movement will be stepping up training opportunities and career counselling for workers, including non-union members.

Speaking to the media ahead of May Day on Sunday, Mr Chan Chun Sing, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Secretary-General, stressed the need for the labour movement to stay relevant by expanding its suite of services and network to get in touch with more employees.

Among other things, the NTUC will be growing its pool of career coaches from the current 50 permanent employees to include 500 more adjunct career coaches over the next five to eight years, said Mr Chan yesterday.

These adjunct coaches will still be working in various industries, so they can provide “timely advice” to job-seekers, such as on the courses needed to enter a certain industry, and to help them in job-matching.

Training will be another area that the NTUC will be focusing on, working with the institutes of higher learning to provide short modular courses for workers to upgrade themselves.

This is necessary as workers today are changing jobs more often and moving between industries. The business cycles are also becoming more frequent and intense, Mr Chan said.

He noted that in the past, the “monolithic archetype of the worker” may be looking for protection services and welfare privileges from the labour movement.

“Going forward ... they (workers) are also looking for career development opportunities, training programmes, they are also looking at opportunities to network, to work beyond Singapore ... Because of those evolving needs, the services that the NTUC provides will change,” Mr Chan said.

He added that the NTUC has to grow its network to reach a new profile of workers, such as freelancers, whose numbers are growing here.

“While union membership remains important, it may be less relevant to workers who frequently change jobs; workers in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) who are hard to unionise and even contract workers or freelancers,” Mr Chan said in a blog post yesterday.

Currently, the NTUC has 900,000 union members and 200,000 on its U Associate programme, which targets professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) in professional associations.

The NTUC has also partnered with more than 3,000 SMEs, reaching out to some 70,000 workers.

It is starting to work with freelancers and self-employed workers, such as Uber drivers and sports coaches, to share legal and financial-planning practices.

At the same time, the NTUC is aiming to ensure that care services, such as eldercare or childcare, stay affordable for the average worker, said Mr Chan.

On the NTUC’s target to reach a million union members — a goal set more than 10 years ago — Mr Chan said the more important element is the representativeness of the labour movement.

In response to a question, he said that it is “too early to say” if union members will shift towards the NTUC’s other platforms, such as the U Associate programme for PMEs, as the workforce evolves.

“The strength of the labour movement is a function of its membership times its network,” Mr Chan said.

Mr Justin Teh, president of Sports Coaches Association of Singapore, noted that freelancers, including sports coaches, are scattered by their very nature.

As such, the NTUC can act as a coordinator to bring freelancers together, he said.

For instance, the NTUC has collaborated with the association to offer courses, such as on taxation, for its 200 members.

Mr Teh added that as freelancers are left on their own, training provided by the NTUC can help those who are keen to grow their business or switch careers.

Mr Chong Kee Sen, president of the Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES), agreed that the rapid advent of technology means that engineers have to continually pick up new skills to stay relevant.

While the IES can offer its members technological expertise, the NTUC can help them to be more all-rounded by providing training in leadership and communication skills, said Mr Chong.