<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published July 11, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Layoffs slipped almost two-thirds in second quarter
By GEORGE JOSEPH
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AFTER 10,000 workers were axed from the unionised sector in the first quarter of this year, the number of layoffs fell almost two thirds in Q2, labour chief and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say told a maritime industry conference yesterday.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>MR LIM
Warns that the game is not over yet even though the labour movement has done well</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The labour movement has done well, but 'the game is not over yet', he warned.
The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) secretary-general was drawing an analogy with the longest-ever Wimbledon tennis final last Sunday, when top-seeded Roger Federer displayed excellence and doggedness in turning back an unexpected assault from American Andy Roddick to claim his 15th Grand Slam title.
Urging unionists and employers to remain similarly focused on the fundamentals to keep jobs, Mr Lim said that they should not 'assume, like Roddick, that the game was over'.
Yesterday's conference took place as the day's headlines heralded good news of polls projecting more hiring in some sectors from Q3, after a long period of retrenchments and freezes.
Mr Lim paid tribute to the world's best 'tripartism' - Singapore's symbiotic relations between government, unions and employers - and singled it out as a critical 'national asset' that helped the unionised sector weather the economic storm.
In the past, Singapore survived by being 'cheaper than those who were cheap, and better than those who were better than us', he said. But trying to be cheaper than the cheapest is not always a good option, he said, pointing instead to the need to always strive to be better than the rest.
Singapore's workforce will always have to be among the world's best, Mr Lim said.
While shipowners and unionists at yesterday's conference noted some signs of improvement on the economic front, none were prepared to commit being 'out of the woods yet'.
Shipowner and president of the Singapore Shipping Association SS Teo said that the container shipping industry faces the worst over-supply of ships and is not seeing much of a comeback in cargo volumes.
But cutting manpower would be the wrong thing to do, he said. 'Confidence and human resources are the most important in our industry.'
At the one-day conference - organised by the Singapore Maritime Officers' Union (SMOU), with the theme 'Upturning the Downturn: Turning the Crisis into Opportunities' - some 300 delegates heard how Singapore's tripartism has helped workers keep their jobs or get retrained and reskilled through government schemes to cut costs for employers so they retrench only as a last resort.
SMOU president Thomas Tay said that the downturn presented opportunities for companies to invest in manpower capabilities. The Singapore Maritime Training Fund has invested $1.9 million to retrain 1,000 officers on Singapore-registered ships, he said.
To help seafarers, SMOU is working with shipowners on cost-cutting measures to help companies stay afloat and keep seafarers employed through the downturn, Mr Tay said.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Layoffs slipped almost two-thirds in second quarter
By GEORGE JOSEPH
<TABLE class=storyLinks border=0 cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right><TBODY><TR class=font10><TD width=20 align=right>
</TD><TD>Email this article</TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD width=20 align=right>
</TD><TD>Print article </TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD width=20 align=right>
</TD><TD>Feedback</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>AFTER 10,000 workers were axed from the unionised sector in the first quarter of this year, the number of layoffs fell almost two thirds in Q2, labour chief and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say told a maritime industry conference yesterday.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>MR LIMWarns that the game is not over yet even though the labour movement has done well</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The labour movement has done well, but 'the game is not over yet', he warned.
The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) secretary-general was drawing an analogy with the longest-ever Wimbledon tennis final last Sunday, when top-seeded Roger Federer displayed excellence and doggedness in turning back an unexpected assault from American Andy Roddick to claim his 15th Grand Slam title.
Urging unionists and employers to remain similarly focused on the fundamentals to keep jobs, Mr Lim said that they should not 'assume, like Roddick, that the game was over'.
Yesterday's conference took place as the day's headlines heralded good news of polls projecting more hiring in some sectors from Q3, after a long period of retrenchments and freezes.
Mr Lim paid tribute to the world's best 'tripartism' - Singapore's symbiotic relations between government, unions and employers - and singled it out as a critical 'national asset' that helped the unionised sector weather the economic storm.
In the past, Singapore survived by being 'cheaper than those who were cheap, and better than those who were better than us', he said. But trying to be cheaper than the cheapest is not always a good option, he said, pointing instead to the need to always strive to be better than the rest.
Singapore's workforce will always have to be among the world's best, Mr Lim said.
While shipowners and unionists at yesterday's conference noted some signs of improvement on the economic front, none were prepared to commit being 'out of the woods yet'.
Shipowner and president of the Singapore Shipping Association SS Teo said that the container shipping industry faces the worst over-supply of ships and is not seeing much of a comeback in cargo volumes.
But cutting manpower would be the wrong thing to do, he said. 'Confidence and human resources are the most important in our industry.'
At the one-day conference - organised by the Singapore Maritime Officers' Union (SMOU), with the theme 'Upturning the Downturn: Turning the Crisis into Opportunities' - some 300 delegates heard how Singapore's tripartism has helped workers keep their jobs or get retrained and reskilled through government schemes to cut costs for employers so they retrench only as a last resort.
SMOU president Thomas Tay said that the downturn presented opportunities for companies to invest in manpower capabilities. The Singapore Maritime Training Fund has invested $1.9 million to retrain 1,000 officers on Singapore-registered ships, he said.
To help seafarers, SMOU is working with shipowners on cost-cutting measures to help companies stay afloat and keep seafarers employed through the downturn, Mr Tay said.
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