<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>$23m to help workers hit by downturn
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Money for current and new schemes to help laid-off staff and those on shorter work week </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Goh Chin Lian
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(From left) Mr Gan, NTUC president John De Payva, Ms Ho Ching, PM Lee, Mr Lim and Mr Mah enjoying the May Day concert held at the Marina Bay Golf Course yesterday. They had earlier joined more than 7,000 union members in a 2km walk to show support for all workers in Singapore. -- ST PHOTO: CAROLINE CHIA
There! There! There! See that useless Pink Icer begging for food? *hee*hee*
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->The labour movement has raised more than $23 million to help needy union members and their families.
The funds will beef up existing help schemes and support new ones to give immediate relief to the retrenched and those on a shorter work week, labour chief Lim Swee Say told reporters yesterday.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Still on shaky ground
'There's no visibility yet that the momentum in the second quarter will pull through to the third quarter and the fourth quarter.'
MR LIM SWEE SAY, on lower retrenchments in the current quarter
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>He said the measures are necessary as the global economy - and Singapore's - is not out of the woods yet.
Mr Lim, who is the National Trades Union Congress chief, said retrenchments and shorter work weeks in the second quarter of this year have so far been significantly lower than in the previous quarter.
Factories and companies are also receiving more production orders, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office said.
But he noted that customers are also asking for lower prices or deferring their payments: 'There's no visibility yet that the momentum in the second quarter will pull through to the third quarter and the fourth quarter.'
The new help schemes under the NTUC's U Care Fund will target two groups.
The first group comprises those laid off without adequate retrenchment benefits because their companies have folded or are in dispute with unions over the payments.
This group is still a minority, making up less than 5 per cent of retrenched workers, said Mr Lim.
Another group is made up of those who are earning less because they are on a shorter work week.
The ranks of both groups may swell as more companies could run into difficulties, Mr Lim said, adding that details of the new schemes will be made known this week.
Among the existing schemes to be expanded are vouchers giving discounts for groceries and services from NTUC cooperatives, and those that pay for school expenses.
NTUC is also matching the amount that unions give for scholarships and bursaries to their union members.
These schemes will benefit low-income workers who may also receive smaller pay increases or year-end bonuses this year, Mr Lim said.
Earlier, he and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong joined more than 7,000 union members in a 2km walk to show support for all workers in Singapore.
Accompanying them were Mr Lee's wife, Ms Ho Ching, Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong, Singapore National Employers Federation president Stephen Lee and Singapore Labour Foundation (SLF) chairman Mah Bow Tan.
They made their way from Jalan Benaan Kapal in Kallang to the Marina Bay Golf Course, where they enjoyed a concert on the driving range as the sun set.
Songs were presented to honour the donors, which included NTUC cooperatives, unions, the SLF and corporate sponsors.
Mr Lim also led NTUC central committee members and directors in a rendition of Upturn The Downturn, to the tune of Hokkien hit song, Ai Pia Jia Eh Ya (Only Those Who Fight Will Win).
Among the beneficiaries of the U Care Fund will be Goh Wei Min, 14, and his brother, Wei Chuen, 10. They will each receive an education grant of $100 in July.
Their father, Mr Goh Choong Hwa, 52, was laid off as a manpower agency supervisor in February.
The sole breadwinner of the household, Mr Goh also has a daughter aged nine.
'We're surviving on our savings,' said Mr Goh, who has been taking courses to upgrade his skills.
He hopes to clinch a job as an assistant property officer that will pay about $1,400 a month, roughly half of what he used to earn as a supervisor. [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Money for current and new schemes to help laid-off staff and those on shorter work week </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Goh Chin Lian
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
(From left) Mr Gan, NTUC president John De Payva, Ms Ho Ching, PM Lee, Mr Lim and Mr Mah enjoying the May Day concert held at the Marina Bay Golf Course yesterday. They had earlier joined more than 7,000 union members in a 2km walk to show support for all workers in Singapore. -- ST PHOTO: CAROLINE CHIA
There! There! There! See that useless Pink Icer begging for food? *hee*hee*
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->The labour movement has raised more than $23 million to help needy union members and their families.
The funds will beef up existing help schemes and support new ones to give immediate relief to the retrenched and those on a shorter work week, labour chief Lim Swee Say told reporters yesterday.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Still on shaky ground
'There's no visibility yet that the momentum in the second quarter will pull through to the third quarter and the fourth quarter.'
MR LIM SWEE SAY, on lower retrenchments in the current quarter
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>He said the measures are necessary as the global economy - and Singapore's - is not out of the woods yet.
Mr Lim, who is the National Trades Union Congress chief, said retrenchments and shorter work weeks in the second quarter of this year have so far been significantly lower than in the previous quarter.
Factories and companies are also receiving more production orders, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office said.
But he noted that customers are also asking for lower prices or deferring their payments: 'There's no visibility yet that the momentum in the second quarter will pull through to the third quarter and the fourth quarter.'
The new help schemes under the NTUC's U Care Fund will target two groups.
The first group comprises those laid off without adequate retrenchment benefits because their companies have folded or are in dispute with unions over the payments.
This group is still a minority, making up less than 5 per cent of retrenched workers, said Mr Lim.
Another group is made up of those who are earning less because they are on a shorter work week.
The ranks of both groups may swell as more companies could run into difficulties, Mr Lim said, adding that details of the new schemes will be made known this week.
Among the existing schemes to be expanded are vouchers giving discounts for groceries and services from NTUC cooperatives, and those that pay for school expenses.
NTUC is also matching the amount that unions give for scholarships and bursaries to their union members.
These schemes will benefit low-income workers who may also receive smaller pay increases or year-end bonuses this year, Mr Lim said.
Earlier, he and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong joined more than 7,000 union members in a 2km walk to show support for all workers in Singapore.
Accompanying them were Mr Lee's wife, Ms Ho Ching, Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong, Singapore National Employers Federation president Stephen Lee and Singapore Labour Foundation (SLF) chairman Mah Bow Tan.
They made their way from Jalan Benaan Kapal in Kallang to the Marina Bay Golf Course, where they enjoyed a concert on the driving range as the sun set.
Songs were presented to honour the donors, which included NTUC cooperatives, unions, the SLF and corporate sponsors.
Mr Lim also led NTUC central committee members and directors in a rendition of Upturn The Downturn, to the tune of Hokkien hit song, Ai Pia Jia Eh Ya (Only Those Who Fight Will Win).
Among the beneficiaries of the U Care Fund will be Goh Wei Min, 14, and his brother, Wei Chuen, 10. They will each receive an education grant of $100 in July.
Their father, Mr Goh Choong Hwa, 52, was laid off as a manpower agency supervisor in February.
The sole breadwinner of the household, Mr Goh also has a daughter aged nine.
'We're surviving on our savings,' said Mr Goh, who has been taking courses to upgrade his skills.
He hopes to clinch a job as an assistant property officer that will pay about $1,400 a month, roughly half of what he used to earn as a supervisor. [email protected]
