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Published December 12, 2008
Brace for layoffs, NTUC chief tells union leaders
By TEH SHI NING
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LABOUR chief Lim Swee Say yesterday urged over 400 union leaders who attended a dialogue session to brace themselves for an inevitable rise in retrenchments.
He also said that they should waste no time in engaging company management and help 'cut costs and save jobs, before they are forced to cut jobs to save costs'.
'We need to be more pro-business than ever before to minimise downsizing here in Singapore, and at the same time appeal to management to be as pro-workers as they can,' said Mr Lim, secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) at the event organised by NTUC and the Ong Teng Cheong Institute of Labour Studies.
Government financial support schemes such as SPUR (Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience), which helps employers save wage costs while improving workers' capabilities, need to be taken advantage of, panellists at the dialogue said.
NTUC deputy secretary-general Heng Chee How revealed that 22 companies had signed up 2,460 local workers to be trained under SPUR since it took effect on Dec 1.
Following feedback from the labour movement, Mr Heng added, the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) has in the past week expanded the list of training courses approved for SPUR funding and allowed non-listed courses to be approved on a case-by-case basis.
Yesterday, the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees' Union and the Singapore Shipping Association also rolled out a new training initiative under SPUR that is expected to benefit over 1,000 workers - the result of their meeting with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore to find ways to stave off possible large-scale retrenchments in the maritime industry.
Brace for layoffs, NTUC chief tells union leaders
By TEH SHI NING
Email this article
Print article
Feedback
LABOUR chief Lim Swee Say yesterday urged over 400 union leaders who attended a dialogue session to brace themselves for an inevitable rise in retrenchments.
He also said that they should waste no time in engaging company management and help 'cut costs and save jobs, before they are forced to cut jobs to save costs'.
'We need to be more pro-business than ever before to minimise downsizing here in Singapore, and at the same time appeal to management to be as pro-workers as they can,' said Mr Lim, secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) at the event organised by NTUC and the Ong Teng Cheong Institute of Labour Studies.
Government financial support schemes such as SPUR (Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience), which helps employers save wage costs while improving workers' capabilities, need to be taken advantage of, panellists at the dialogue said.
NTUC deputy secretary-general Heng Chee How revealed that 22 companies had signed up 2,460 local workers to be trained under SPUR since it took effect on Dec 1.
Following feedback from the labour movement, Mr Heng added, the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) has in the past week expanded the list of training courses approved for SPUR funding and allowed non-listed courses to be approved on a case-by-case basis.
Yesterday, the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees' Union and the Singapore Shipping Association also rolled out a new training initiative under SPUR that is expected to benefit over 1,000 workers - the result of their meeting with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore to find ways to stave off possible large-scale retrenchments in the maritime industry.
