Lim Swee Say
Singapore
“The number of reports received via the Snap@MOM app, number of valid reports and number of companies issued with enforcement actions between 2015 and 2017 are shown in the table below: All valid reports have resulted in warnings or enforcement actions.”
“In the case of students from ITE, polytechnics or autonomous universities, employers do not need to contribute CPF if the student is employed by them for training that is approved by their institutions.”
“Together with our tripartite partners at the national and sector levels, we have to do our best to transform across all sectors, for our economy to transform and grow, pervasively, as One Singapore Unlimited.”
“Between April and December 2017, the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) and the Employment Claims Tribunal (ECT) concluded 3,750 employee salary claims where the employer was ordered to make payment to the worker. Salaries were fully recovered in about 92% of these orders. The remaining claims involved 139 employers.”
“The number of employed residents aged 62 and over, and 67 and over has increased over the last five years (see Table 1 below). Of all employed residents aged 67 and over in 2017, 64% were males; 80% held secondary and below qualifications, 9% had post-secondary qualifications, while 11% were tertiary-educated; 52% of this group of older w…”
“The proportion of full-time resident employees earning below $2,000 who received bonuses, including the Annual Wage Supplement, has remained stable at about 50% over the last decade. Employers and unions share the flexibility in structuring staff remuneration together under our Flexible and Performance Based wage systems.”
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“Our journey of transformation is underway. Unions, employers and the Government are partnering one another through a constructive spirit of trust and mutual alignment to support our workers and businesses. Partnership will be a key feature in all of WSG's work. Within the Government, it will partner economic agencies on industry transformation, and with MOE and SSG on lifelong learning. Across each industry, WSG will work with employers, business chambers and trade associations, and unions to deepen ties and achieve win-win outcomes. In employment facilitation, it will partner best-in-class employment agencies to help workers secure better jobs, and technology providers to expand its effectiveness and reach. But the most important partner will be the workers of Singapore. We need every individual to play his or her part to adapt and grow in this new environment. With a dedicated agency in WSG and the collective endeavours of all our partners, I am confident that we can do more than before to match the aspirations of our people and the needs of our businesses. Together, we can make sure that the innovative growth of the economy is also inclusive growth for our people. Mdm Speaker, I beg to move. [(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)]”
“So, whether you are in your 20s looking for your first job, or in your 30s looking for your next job, or in your 40s or 50s looking for your next career, or in your 60s or beyond looking to make your next contribution, WSG can support you. Industry and businesses can, likewise, expect WSG to be employer-centric, helping them to develop their manpower pipeline, sector by sector. Working in partnership, WSG and the sector agencies and tripartite partners are developing industry manpower plans under the respective Industry Transformation Maps. These plans will articulate the jobs and careers we strive to create in the future, for us to help match workers – both new job entrants and mid-careerists – to these jobs and career opportunities. WSG will also pay attention to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It will continue to help companies and clusters of firms to become more manpower-lean and innovative, such as through the Lean Enterprise Development Scheme. In addition, it will work with businesses to redesign jobs and improve human resource (HR) practices so that they can turn their human resources into human capital. Page: 30 Last, but not least, WSG will leverage new technology and platforms to widen the reach and impact of its services. Beyond physical touch points, WSG will develop new service models, such as e-services and online career fairs, and also provide timely and customised information and career guidance to individuals at different stages of their career. It will also move towards leveraging data analytics and smart technology to find new ways to optimise matching between jobseekers and employers. Mdm Speaker, our economy is at a critical juncture where we face both global economic uncertainty and domestic workforce changes.”
“At the same time, WSG will do more to help them manage their career transitions throughout their lives. Second, at the workforce level, WSG will strengthen the inclusiveness of our local workforce in the face of disruptive change. Today, WDA serves many in the workforce, be it young or old workers, professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) or non-PMETs. It has also built up partnerships to support special worker segments, such as with SG Enable to support the hiring of persons with disabilities, and with the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (SCORE) and the Industrial and Services Co-operative Society (ISCOS) to help ex-offenders return to work. Again, this will continue. But we recognise that disruptive technology and innovation will bring not just new opportunities, but new threats, too, to all groups of workers, including PMETs. If we are not proactive, there is a danger that some will be displaced and made redundant by technology, and our workforce may become less inclusive. WSG will, therefore, reach out to help every segment of workers, to adapt and upgrade with technology, so that we can all benefit and be part of the transformation of our economy and workforce. Third, at the industry and company levels, WSG will help businesses create better quality jobs to attract and build a stronger Singaporean Core. This is a key priority for firms as workforce growth will slow and competition for manpower will only become keener. WSG will support companies to adopt new business models, be more manpower-lean and create progressive workplaces to fully utilise the skills and talent of our workers. Mdm Speaker, moving forward, our workers can expect WSG to be worker-centric, covering all their career stages.”
“Mdm Speaker, as we transform the industry and the workforce, it is crucial that we keep the two in sync. If workforce transformation lags behind industry transformation, workers will miss the opportunities for better jobs while businesses will not have the manpower they need. We would end up with higher structural unemployment and an over-reliance on foreign manpower. On the other hand, if industry transformation lags behind workforce transformation, there will be a shortage of quality jobs for our people, leading to higher under-employment. Therefore, the third thing we must do right is to match every better worker to every better job, and make every career a better career for all Singaporeans. Mdm Speaker, Workforce Singapore, or WSG in short, under the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), will sharpen its focus and strive to minimise mismatches and maximise matching between jobs and skills, workers and businesses. It will be both pro-worker and pro-business. Page: 29 Clauses 9 and 10 of the Bill provide for the functions and powers of WSG. I will now outline three key areas WSG will strive to do more and do better for our workers and businesses. First, for our workers, WSG will not only help individuals find jobs but also help them build careers at all life stages. Lifelong career conversion will become more widespread in the future economy. Holding a single job or career through life will become less common. The new reality is that workers may need not only to switch between jobs and employers, but also between types of industries and modes of employment, be it traditional or emerging. Today, the Wokforce Development Agency (WDA), Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and partners are actively helping jobseekers to find jobs. This will continue under WSG.”
“Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time". We live in a world of greater uncertainty and faster change today. Last month, I attended the Group of 20 (G20) Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting, and the mood was one of concern. Seven years after the Global Financial Crisis, G20 economic growth is still lower than before the crisis, at 3.2% per annum versus 4.1% per annum before the crisis. Unemployment at 5.8% has barely fallen from the peak of the crisis of 6%. Labour force participation is also lower than before the crisis. Across the G20 countries, there is said to be a shortfall of 50 million jobs. Back home, our economy and workforce are in transition, too. Our workforce is ageing at one of the fastest rates in the world. Workforce growth is falling from 4% per year in the earlier part of the decade, to around 1% per year by 2020. Importantly, each generation of Singaporeans is aspiring to do better, with better education, better jobs and better incomes. To avoid ending up with the challenges that many countries are now facing of high youth unemployment, sticky unemployment and declining labour force participation, we must get three things right. First, we need to quicken the transformation of industry, to make every job a better job. The Ministry of Trade and Industry and sector agencies are leading this effort to create the new industries, new businesses, and new jobs of the future. Second, we will need to quicken the transformation of the workforce, to make every worker a better worker. The Ministry of Education (MOE) is leading the effort to inculcate lifelong learning, from pre-employment education to professional and continuing education. SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) is the new agency tasked with this.”
“With the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act (FEDA) coming into operation on 1 January 2016, larger foreign employee dormitories with 1,000 beds or more will require a licence to operate. Operators were given six months to apply for a licence. To date, all 57 dormitories which require a licence have submitted their applications. Nine licences have been issued and the remaining applications are being processed. All the licensed dormitories are in compliance with FEDA. No licences have been revoked. The Ministry will conduct routine and ad hoc inspections at all licensed dormitories to ensure that the operators abide by the licence conditions.”
“When a Central Provident Fund (CPF) member passes on, all CPF savings, including those in the MediSave Account are disbursed based on a CPF member's nomination. In the absence of a nomination, they are disbursed by the Public Trustee according to intestacy laws. With a valid CPF nomination, nominees will, generally, receive their monies within four weeks from the date CPF Board receives their applications. This is because processing time is needed to check and verify the applications and supporting documents, to ensure that payments are made to the rightful nominees. Nominees who are responsible for the last rites can then use the bequest to pay for the funeral expenses.”
“The Silver Support Scheme is the latest addition to our social safety net. It provides a cash supplement to the bottom 20% of Singaporeans aged 65 and above who had low wages through life and who currently have little or no family support. The Pioneer Generation Package (PGP) is the only scheme that considers the year in which an individual becomes a citizen. This criterion is relevant because PGP is meant to honour and thank all members of the first generation of Singaporeans who contributed to Singapore's nation-building. It included all Pioneers, irrespective of their means. The Silver Support Scheme on the other hand, like all other social assistance schemes, provides targeted support to Singaporeans who require additional help, regardless of their length of citizenship. Such schemes have various eligibility criteria in place to help ensure that the support is channelled to the intended beneficiaries.”
“The letter allows the FDW to be fully aware of her salary and rest day compensation before she decides to come to Singapore. It is important that FDWs are treated fairly. FDWs who need assistance on issues relating to rest days can approach MOM through our MOM FDW hotline.”
“The rest day policy introduced in 2013 requires employers to provide their foreign domestic workers (FDWs) with a weekly rest day while giving employers the flexibility to compensate their FDWs with extra pay if the FDW agrees to work on her rest day. This arrangement is in recognition that some employers may have genuine difficulties giving FDWs weekly rest days and that some FDWs may prefer the option to work and earn more by forgoing their rest days. This policy has been making encouraging progress. Since its introduction, the vast majority of our FDWs have reported having rest days. In a 2015 survey of FDWs, it was found that 97.5%, or almost all, received at least one rest day every month, up from 53% in 2010. Furthermore, more than 55% received a weekly rest day in 2015, up from 13% in 2010. Complaints from FDWs to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) regarding rest day arrangements and compensation-in-lieu of rest days are small in number. There were around 40 complaints received by MOM from 2014 to 2015, representing less than 0.02% of the FDW population. No rest day-related violations were found in these cases from MOM's investigations. Our investigations showed that some of the FDWs wanted to change their rest day agreement with their employers while others were unsure if they had been paid rest day compensation. MOM resolved these cases after clarification with the respective FDWs and employers. To minimise misunderstandings, we have enhanced the In-Principle Approval letter sent out to all FDWs before they arrive in Singapore. This letter, in the FDW's native language, details the FDW's basic salary, the number of agreed rest days, and the compensation for each rest day forgone.”
“The Valuation Limit (VL) policy encourages Central Provident Fund (CPF) members to make prudent property purchases and take up housing loans within their financial means. This helps to minimise the risk of CPF members not being able to recover the full amount of CPF that they had withdrawn for their property purchases upon sale. The VL is set at the lower of the purchase price or property value at the time of purchase. CPF members who have set aside their Basic Retirement Sum (BRS) can continue to use their CPF savings above the VL for housing. However, for properties purchased with bank loans, there is a cap known as the Withdrawal Limit (WL) which is set at 120% of the VL. In the case of Build-To-Order flats purchased with Housing and Development Board (HDB) loans, both the VL and WL do not apply as these are sold at subsidised prices. Currently, more than 500,000 HDB lessees use their CPF savings to service their housing instalments. Of these, about 15,000 (2.8%) have reached their VL and are still using CPF for their housing instalments. Another 2,500 (0.5%) have less than the BRS and, hence, cannot use CPF savings beyond their VL for housing. The number of lessees who have reached WL is about 60 (0.01%). For affected CPF members who find it difficult to service their housing loans in cash after they reach VL, flexibility can be provided upon appeal. In 2014 and 2015, CPF Board received a total of about 6,000 appeals, including repeated appeals, from members to use CPF savings beyond their VL. The majority of appeals from single property owners were successful. However, the general principle remains that members should be prudent in their housing purchase decisions, so as to put aside sufficient savings for their retirement needs.”
“Every foreign domestic worker (FDW) is required to be certified fit for employment by a Singapore-registered doctor before she can start work. This involves a medical examination by the doctor and a declaration by the FDW on her medical history, covering pre-existing conditions, such as mental illness, diabetes and heart disease. Any FDW who makes a false declaration will have her work pass revoked, may be charged in Court and permanently barred from working in Singapore. To ensure that the medical costs incurred by individual FDW are not transferred to other taxpayers, employers of FDWs are required to bear the cost of any medical treatment incurred by their FDWs. This includes illnesses not discovered earlier. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the current compulsory medical insurance coverage already covers fully 97% of all inpatient and day surgery bills for FDWs at public hospitals. For the small minority of employers who face genuine difficulties in paying their FDWs' medical bills, they can seek assistance from medical social workers at the relevant healthcare institutions. To keep premiums affordable and provide adequate coverage, insurance companies which sell the compulsory medical insurance for FDWs currently do not cover pre-existing illnesses. Mandating compulsory coverage of pre-existing illnesses will raise costs for all employers, even for those who do not need it, and, therefore, needs to be carefully considered. Regardless, individual employers can voluntarily purchase additional insurance for greater coverage. Additionally, employers can choose to send their FDWs for more medical examinations prior to employment to check for pre-existing illnesses.”
“The Employment Act (EA) and the Child Development Co-savings Act (CDCA) protect female employees during pregnancy and while on maternity leave. Employees who are eligible for maternity protection and benefits under EA and CDCA must be certified pregnant by a registered medical practitioner. This certification can take the form of a memo, letter or medical report that is signed by the medical practitioner. The maternity protection against unfair dismissal applies throughout the pregnancy, regardless of whether the employee later has a miscarriage. An employee can submit an appeal to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) if she was unfairly dismissed while pregnant. MOM will investigate accordingly and take appropriate actions under the EA.”
“Hence, the common DGS procured in phase 1 of the project will be put to good use in subsequent phases of the project which will start in 2017.”
“In 2012, the Ministry of Manpower initiated a multi-year project to redevelop our information technology (IT) systems for the processing of all work pass types comprising Employment Passes (EPs), S Passes and Work Permits covering foreign workers (FWs) and foreign domestic workers (FDWs). We called a tender in 2013 for phase 1 of the project covering the FDW system (FDWS). The scope included a common document generator system (DGS) to handle the high volume of correspondences, such as letters, notices, advisories and so on, not just for FDWs but across all the work pass types. The phase 1 tender, excluding DGS, was awarded to Thoughtworks in 2014. DGS was separately awarded to National Computer Systems (NCS) as NCS had proposed a software product that was more scalable and hence could be used by the entire work pass IT system for all the work pass types. However, as the project progressed, we discovered that more time was needed to fully integrate the common DGS with FDWS. This would potentially delay the launch of FDWS and consequently incur additional cost as we would have to extend the use of the existing IT system. Hence, on balance, we decided to adopt a custom-built solution offered by Thoughtworks for FDWS alone at no additional cost to us. The custom-built solution was suitable as FDWS has a lower volume of correspondences. FDWS went live starting from December 2014, with the full launch in December 2015. Although the common DGS was not used for FDWS, we will be using it in the subsequent phases of the IT redevelopment. It will be used to handle the higher volume of correspondences for EPs, S Passes and other Work Permits, as originally intended.”
“Mdm Speaker, indeed, we have taken action against not just the double weak but triple weak companies as well. These are companies that are weak in Singaporean Core today, weak in their commitment to strengthen the Singaporean Core in the future, as well as weak in their economic linkage to our economy. The programme is ongoing. In fact, the list of companies is growing. If Members are interested, feel free to file a PQ. I will give Members a comprehensive reply. 1.30 pm”
“WSG will also support tripartite efforts to transform our industries and strengthen the Singaporean Core in all major sectors. We believe this is the best way to position Singapore for growth and to create better jobs for our people. Later on, we will be doing the Second Reading of the WSG Bill and I will be happy to elaborate further.”
“Mdm Speaker, redundancies have risen due to weaker global economic conditions and ongoing economic restructuring. In anticipation of this, I announced in April this year the "Adapt and Grow" initiative. Under "Adapt and Grow", we have enhanced and expanded the package of employment assistance for both the affected professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) and rank-and-file workers. It includes the Professional Conversion Programme, Career Support Programme, P-Max and Reskilling for Jobs Programme. The Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) have also ramped up the number of job fairs and other career support events, such as career workshops and learning journeys, to hiring firms. Ms Foo Mee Har asked how effective our current support schemes are. Mdm Speaker, in the first half of this year, WDA and e2i have assisted about 15,000 jobseekers through its Career Centres and the Adapt and Grow support programmes. With WDA and e2i assistance, about 4,000 PMETs and 6,000 rank-and-file jobseekers have secured jobs. Ms Foo also asked what additional measures we will implement moving forward. Mdm Speaker, the Government will continue to monitor the economic and labour market situation closely and expand employment support to our workers proactively as we go through this period of not just cyclical uncertainty but structural transition as well. Moving forward, with the restructuring of WDA into the Workforce Singapore (WSG), we will go beyond helping the unemployed find jobs. WSG will do more and help more Singaporeans manage their career transitions throughout life. This is to maximise matching between the aspiration of workers and the manpower needs of businesses.”
“Persons with disabilities can qualify for WIS if they make the necessary CPF contributions in line with their work arrangements. Prison inmates who participate in work programmes can likewise qualify for WIS if they make the necessary contributions to their CPF Medisave accounts.”
“In general, all Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents are required to make CPF contributions if they earn an income from two categories of work in Singapore. The first category refers to those who are working under Contracts of Service, where there is an employee-employer relationship, and who earn more than $50 per month. The second category refers to those who are Self-Employed Persons and whose net trade income is more than $6,000 per year. CPF contributions are mandated for persons with disabilities who do work for social enterprise programmes if the work arrangements fall under the two categories above. For example, the Page: 84 centres run by the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) currently enable the training of persons with disabilities in social enterprises. There is no employer-employee relationship between MINDS and the person with disabilities. CPF contributions are not required to be made by or on behalf of these persons with disabilities. Work programmes in prison are part of the overall inmate rehabilitation programme. The work programmes serve to keep the inmates meaningfully occupied during their prison term and prepare inmates for employment upon their release. Participation in such work programmes is voluntary and inmates can ask to cease participation at any time. Prison inmates do not work under a Contract of Service and there is no employer-employee relationship between the Government and the inmate. CPF contributions are not required to be made by or on behalf of these prison inmates. The Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) supplements the income and CPF savings of eligible Singaporeans aged 35 and above. This age criterion for WIS is waived for persons with disabilities.”
“These enhancements have given greater assurance to workers and added impetus to tripartite efforts to encourage the voluntary adoption of portable medical benefits by companies. Of the various portable medical benefits options, our focus going forward will be to encourage employers to make additional contributions to employees' Medisave accounts. We have started by including this in the Tripartite Guidelines on Re-employment of Older Employees released in May 2016. The tripartite partners will continue to work closely to encourage more employers to offer voluntary portable medical benefits at the company level.”
“Ensuring that Singaporean workers have adequate medical coverage in employment and post-employment is an important priority for the Government. At the national level, the Government ensures portable medical benefits through mandatory Medisave contributions by employers and employees. These contributions will remain with the employee even after he stops work or changes employer. Tax incentives were also introduced in 2004 and 2008 to encourage provision of additional portable medical benefits on a voluntary basis at the company level. However, the take-up rate of the voluntary portable medical benefits at the company level has not been high. Our last survey in 2013 showed that about 4% of companies employing about 20% of our local workers have done so. Even with the tax incentives, many employers prefer to continue with their own non-portable medical benefits which are more cost-effective in attracting and retaining workers who are mostly healthy adults of working age. Moving forward, with the introduction of MediShield Life in November 2015, the tripartite partners are actively pursuing MediShield Life as the main platform for voluntary portable medical benefits provided by employers. MediShield Life is universal and employees can pay for their premiums using Medisave contributions. With MediShield Life, all our local workers can be assured that their medical coverage, including for pre-existing illnesses, would follow them, regardless of any change in employment status or employer. More importantly, the annual claim limit has been raised significantly and the lifetime claim limit has been removed.”
“Page: 75 That said, managers and executives enjoy protections under other parts of the Employment Act. In fact, we have progressively enhanced protections for managers and executives in our employment laws over the years. For example, we amended the Employment Act in 2008 to extend salary protection to managers and executives earning less than $2,500 a month, including access to the Labour Court to resolve salary-related disputes. This salary ceiling was raised to $4,500 in 2011 to cover a bigger group of managers and executives. In 2014, we again amended the Employment Act to cover managers and executives for non-salary issues, such as sick leave benefits and protection against unfair dismissal. We have also amended our Industrial Relations Act to allow managers and executives more options for union representation at the workplace, most recently in 2015. In addition, MOM is now working with the State Courts to set up the Employment Claims Tribunal (ECT) early next year. The ECT will allow all managers and executives, who now have no access to the Labour Court, with a new, quick and expeditious channel to resolve statutory and contractual salary-related disputes, subject to certain claims limits. Managers and executives form an important and growing part of our workforce. MOM, together with our tripartite partners, will continue to regularly review our employment laws to ensure that they are adequately protected.”
“The distinction between "workmen" and "non-workmen" in the Employment Act is a legacy issue. "Workmen" refers to blue-collar workers who operate machinery and vehicles or are involved in manual labour, such as cleaners, construction workers and labourers. "Non-workmen" refers to white-collar workers who are not in managerial or executive positions, such as clerks and receptionists. The Employment Act draws this distinction primarily for Part IV of the Act, which relates to hours of work, rest days and annual leave. This is to take into account the differences in the nature of work between workmen and non-workmen. Our longer term intent is to remove this demarcation, given the changing nature of our workforce. For example, we have already taken steps to reduce the difference in coverage between these two groups. In the 2014 amendments to the Employment Act, we raised the salary threshold of non-workmen for Part IV coverage from $2,000 to $2,500 while holding the salary threshold of workmen constant at $4,500. This is to allow the salary threshold of non-workmen to catch up gradually with workmen, while balancing employers’ concerns about the rise in business costs. Whether a worker is classified as a workman, a non-workman or a manager or executive depends on the specific nature of his work. The Employment Act clarifies that a worker with supervisory duties who actually does manual work for more than 50% of the time is considered a workman. However, this does not apply to any person who is employed in a managerial or executive position as specified in the Employment Act. The work-hour related provisions in Part IV of the Employment Act are less relevant to managers and executives whose jobs are often more outcome based.”
“The Council also produced a series of pictograms showing WSH Dos and Don'ts of common work situations. These are being distributed to construction sites and foreign worker dormitories as visual reminders to increase the safety consciousness of our workers. We are heartened that the industry also stepped up efforts to increase WSH awareness. In April, more than 100 project sites in the construction and marine sectors participated in a Safety Time Out to review the safety procedures for their work activities. Last month, over 70 worksites participated in safety awareness activities involving CEOs of the Singapore Contractors Association Page: 74 (SCAL) member companies. This is important to demonstrate leadership commitment to WSH. SCAL also collaborated with the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (REDAS) and the WSH Council to develop more user-friendly WSH training materials for construction workers. At the structural level, the Design for Safety (DfS) Regulations will come into effect on 1 August 2016. Under the Regulations, developers and designers will have responsibility for the safety and health of workers in the construction sector. The Regulations will foster greater industry ownership and facilitate information sharing among all stakeholders to improve the identification and management of WSH risks throughout all phases of the building project. It is important to reiterate that WSH is, ultimately, everyone's responsibility. All stakeholders – employers, supervisors and workers – must take proactive ownership in WSH in order to improve our situation. MOM will continue to work closely with the WSH Council and industry partners to raise WSH standards and foster safe work habits.”
“MOM is concerned with the deteriorating Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) situation. In the first half of 2016, there were already 42 fatalities, 12 more compared to the same period last year1. The construction sector remains the top contributor with 18 fatalities. This is an 80% increase from last year, where we had 10 from the construction sector. Our preliminary investigation findings indicate that the fatalities had multiple factors as root causes. Many cases were due to inadequate risk assessments carried out by the companies, lack of planning and coordination and insufficient safety awareness among the workers. On the whole, it points to an absence of a robust WSH management system in the companies involved. MOM has earlier outlined a four-pronged strategy to take targeted interventions to improve WSH raising awareness, building WSH capability, strengthening enforcement and imposing harsher penalties. Stiffer penalties against errant companies which flout safety regulations were introduced in May. Since then2, 25 extended Stop Work Orders were issued against worksites with rampant unsafe conditions. We have also stepped up our enforcement presence, targeting high-risk sectors undertaking activities with high incidences of work injuries, such as work at heights, crane operations and formwork structures. This heightened regulatory stance by MOM is complemented with stepped up assistance provided by the WSH Council. The Safety Compliance Assistance Visits Plus (SCAV+) programme was launched in June to help companies identify WSH lapses and improve risk assessment capabilities. This supplements existing WSH capability and culture building efforts, such as the WSH Council's bizSAFE and CultureSAFE programmes.”
“Mdm Speaker, I thank the Member for the clarification. On balance, it is about allowing them to withdraw more in lump sum versus keeping some of them for their monthly withdrawal. Our assessment is that for members who are able to meet the reduced Retirement Sum, which currently is set at $40,300, just to put it into perspective, they would be able to withdraw a monthly sum of only $550 which is derived from the Department of Statistics Household Expenditure data for lower-income households. The amount of $550 will be just sufficient to meet their basic requirements. Another piece of information is that at $550, the amount of $40,300 can last about seven years. It is not all that long. In other words, on the part of CPF, we really have to strike a balance between allowing the member to draw more as a lump sum versus having some of these savings to support their monthly expenditure. On balance, we think $5,000 at this moment, is about the right amount.”
“Mdm Speaker, firstly, whether there is a list, the answer is no, because it is not possible to have a complete list. Any member who wishes to apply for the scheme, all they need to do is to go and see a doctor on our panel. We have a standard form for the doctor to do the certification. CPF Board will basically abide by the assessment of the medical expert. The second question was about accessibility. Every year, we have 1,500 applications. So far, we have not heard of any feedback on lack of accessibility. When members need to use their money in the CPF prematurely, they will come to the CPF Board. They do not wait for us to reach out to them. Firstly, we do not know who they are; secondly, once they need the money, based on our experience, they will come. Therefore, we do not think accessibility is an issue. The last point is about the $5,000 cap. If I understand the Member's point correctly, he is asking whether we should raise the $5,000 cap. I would hesitate to do so because how the cap works is this. A member, having set aside the reduced Retirement Sum and if the balance is less than $5,000, then they do not qualify under the scheme because the amount is too small. So, in other words, if we were to raise the sum, more and more of them will be deprived of this concession. Therefore, for now, I will just keep it at the $5,000 mark.”
“Mdm Speaker, Central Provident Fund (CPF) members with serious medical conditions can apply for an early withdrawal of CPF savings under the CPF Medical Grounds Scheme. The four criteria are: having a terminal illness, permanent incapacitation, suffering from an unsound mind, and having a severely impaired life expectancy. It is not appropriate to adopt the Critical Illness Framework of the Life Insurance Association as the definition for severely impaired life expectancy, as suggested by the Member. This is because not all their listed medical conditions would result in a severely shortened life expectancy, for example, loss of hearing or loss of speech. Conversely, there may be medical conditions which are not on their list but could still result in a severely shortened life expectancy. We, therefore, require members who wish to make withdrawals on any of these four grounds to have their medical conditions certified by doctors either from public medical institutions or on the CPF Board's panel. In the last two years, the CPF Board approved about 1,000 applications each year. CPF members who are terminally ill will be able to withdraw all their retirement savings in one lump sum. Members who are permanently incapacitated, suffer from an unsound mind or have a severely impaired life expectancy will be able to make a lump-sum withdrawal from their retirement savings after setting aside a reduced Retirement Sum. Currently, it is $40,300, which is about half the current Basic Retirement Sum.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made further progress on the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 2016/2017, and ask leave to sit again on Monday,11 April 2016.”
“Sir, may I seek your consent to move that progress be reported now and leave be asked to sit again on Monday, 11 April 2016?”
“Mr Chairman, I agree fully with the first part but not the second part. The first part, the Member talked about – for example, some of the retrenched workers who may have their own options in terms of becoming entrepreneurs and so on – that I fully agree. In fact, just recently, a business entity approached MOM and came up with this idea. His idea was whether under our PCP, besides converting a person from one profession to another, or within a sector, whether we can also allow someone to be converted from a profession to become an entrepreneur. His organisation – at this moment, I am not ready to disclose any information – is prepared to step forward to play a role. Because when a person becomes an entrepreneur, there are many things he needs. He may need advice on how to run a business, capital to start his business, and so on. So, I would say that this is an idea worth exploring. As I said, I fully agree with the Member's first part. The second part is about insurance and so on. I have explained earlier. Our belief is that right now, given the context that we have, low long-term unemployment, high incidence rate of paying retrenchment benefits, I think our priority right now is to help them to go back to work as quickly as possible. In the future, hopefully, we can also include this entrepreneurship as one of the alternatives, something that I am very keen to work on.”
“Three years or five years from now, there could be something else, not because we have done something wrong in the past but rather because we keep striking that dynamic balance between the two. I want to assure Assoc Prof Randolph Tan that I am very mindful of this and that I will always make sure that the interests of pro-business and pro-worker will always be harmonised and, hopefully, always strike the right balance.”
“We are very mindful that we have to strike a balance because, at the end of the day, if we swing too much to, as the Member said, against the employers, eventually we will be hurt. Because if Singapore loses its attractiveness as an investment location, eventually, we will run out of jobs for our workers. The best way to be pro-worker is to be pro-business because a job is the best welfare; full employment is the best protection. At the same time, we must always be mindful that Singapore is not just an economy; Singapore is a nation. I always remember what our founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew said. He said that in nation-building, we must have three pillars, and this is what we call the Singapore software. The first pillar is that our economy must always be competitive. Because if our economy is not competitive, all of us will be poor together. However, always be mindful that competitiveness in an economy is only a means to the end. The end objective is social progress and social well-being, and employment is the best way for our people to benefit in its progress. And lastly, he also mentioned the third pillar, and the most difficult pillar, is sustainable development. You can be pro-business today to ensure the economy is competitive. You can be pro-people, pro-worker today, to ensure the society will be cohesive, we will have social progress. But how do you strike a balance in such a way that we can sustain our development for the long term? Every year, every three years and five years, when we adjust our Government policies, we are trying to define that balance. So, three years ago, there was no "triple weak" or "triple strong". Today, we have "triple weak" and "triple strong".”
“What we end up with is that the less employable workers are the ones who could end up taking a long time. That is why we want to make sure that we do our best to support them. On the question of action taken, again, employers, whether we are swinging too much, I am very mindful of that. In fact, earlier in my address, I emphasised very clearly that as Singapore moves forward, we must both become even more pro-business as we become more pro-worker. The two have to be the two sides of the same coin. Because if we are pro-business and not pro-worker, we can have a strong economy but weak Singaporean Core. Or if you are too pro-worker and not pro-business enough, we can have a strong Singaporean Core but a weak economy. So, both ways will not enable us to succeed in our growth. That is the reason why MOM is very mindful that we will always strike a balance between being pro-business and pro-worker. If there is a "triple weak", then there must be a "triple strong", and the two must go hand in hand. For the "tripe weak", so far, we are starting with only the outliers. In other words, we look at sector by sector. We look at each sector and we look at all the companies in the sector that employ EP workers and plot them in terms of their strength of their Singaporean Core. We can see a spread − industry norm somewhere in the centre, the "triple strong" on the extreme right, and the "triple weak" on the extreme left. What we are doing is that we are taking all these outliers, engage them and take action against them. Hopefully, by sending Page: 125 this clear messaging, the rest will start to gravitate more towards the centre over time.”
“Mr Chairman, I thank Assoc prof Randolph Tan for the two points. Firstly, on the issue of retrenchment, whether MOM is overly active in helping the retrenched workers. The answer is a yes. We are very active. For example, right now, whenever we receive a notice of retrenchment, a task force will actually move in. We will engage the companies and ask the companies to provide us with information of who are the workers, how many will be affected and, in terms of the job profile, how many are PMETs, how many are rank-and-file workers, and for each of these groups, what are the ages, background, and so on. And then, the other programmes will come in, like CSP, PCP and we will talk to the workers, introduce them to these schemes and bring them in. The objective is to help them to go back to work as quickly as possible, both the PMETs and the rank-and-file workers. Increasingly, the job matching is going to go beyond WDA and e2i. Earlier, I mentioned that we intend to engage our Employment Agency industry more. Because we believe that they, too, can have a role to play. Progressively, we want to engage more of these private placement companies to be our partners, so that when there is a retrenchment exercise, especially for PMETs, we can get them to help us, too, to place them. I would say that, on the whole, maybe we are doing too much compared to many other places. But I must say that it is something which is very close to the hearts of the tripartite partners – NTUC, e2i and WDA. We do feel very strongly that whatever we can do, we must help them. The weakness in our market today is we feel that the employment agency market is not job seeker-centric and so, their objective is really to help the companies find workers.”
“Mr Chairman, I agree fully with Mr Heng Chee How. When we prescribe laws and legislation, we are defining the minimum required standard. In other words, if any company were to behave in a way that goes below the stipulated requirement, then what they have done is illegal. Companies would have to comply with the law. Having said so, our objective is to encourage as many companies as possible to do better than what is prescribed in the law. The example cited by Mr Heng Chee How is exactly what we call "progressive behaviours" which we would like to see more and more of in our industry. In that regard, I fully agree with him that maybe TAFEP, as a tripartite alliance for fair and progressive practices can actually take on such a role to keep encouraging companies to do more, and MOM certainly will give our full support. And I thank him for his suggestion.”
“Mr Chairman, when I was at NTUC, this was raised by the workers many times as well. Each time we raised the retirement age or re-employment age, some workers would ask, "Why are you forcing me to work till an older age?" We explained to them that the purpose of retirement age, the purpose of re-employment age, is to protect the workers, give the workers the right to work. In other words, employers cannot simply "complete" the employment before the worker reaches the retirement age and now the re-employment age. So, if we were to abolish the retirement age, the question is, "What will happen?" Are we giving workers more protection or less protection? Today, workers are protected under the retirement age of 62, re-employment age of 65 and by next year, it will be 67. I believe that if we were to remove retirement age completely, it will be less protection for the workers, rather than more protection for the workers.”
“Mr Chairman, this question was raised by Mr Zainal Sapari to the Ministry of Law. I do not have the date, but I think it was in January 2016. At that time, the Minister for Law replied to Mr Zainal Sapari that when a company becomes insolvent, the proceeds from liquidation are preferably paid to employees who are second only to the liquidator. MOM is committed to protecting the employment rights and interests of the workers, and the Ministry encourages all employees probably to seek assistance for unpaid wages as soon as possible before companies reach the stage of liquidation. From our experience, a majority of local workers do indeed file their claims before this happens.”
“This scheme, when it is introduced in July this year, the total budget will cost about $320 million, which is not a small sum. I would say that we are very mindful of the sustainability of this scheme. Right now, there is no plan to go for this adjustment according to inflation. Mr Chairman, I think I have covered most of the cuts raised by Members.”
“Having said so, if I may quote what Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said at last year's COS where this issue came up as well. He said that the decisions on CPF top-ups and transfers between spouses are "personal decisions best left to the couples to decide. It would be intrusive for the Government to intervene" by automatically optimising the split of CPF savings between husband and wife. I must say that I do agree with him. What I would do is that I would, together with CPF, step up the effort to create greater awareness in the community so that, hopefully, we get more and more members of the community to be fully aware of this additional interest that they can benefit from. I hope that Members here can also help us to reach out to the ground. Mr Chen Show Mao raised a question about Silver Support. He asked whether it can be paid on a monthly basis, instead of a quarterly basis. The Minister for Finance has explained this in the Budget. Unlike Workfare, Workfare was given for work done earlier. Workfare was paid after the work was done. In the case of Silver Support, we have decided to pay in advance. So, we are paying quarterly payments in advance. For example, in January, he will get the Silver Support for the next three months. I appreciate Mr Chen's point that if it is paid out monthly, hopefully that will help to manage their finance better. I agree. But on balance, between giving them the money in advance to facilitate better liquidity versus giving it monthly to enforce them to spread the spending over three months, I think, on balance, the decision on advance payment quarterly would probably be more beneficial, given the flexibility. Mr Chen also asked whether we can adjust the payouts to adjust for inflation and so on.”
“Mr Louis Ng touched on the role of NGOs and civil society. I agree with him. I would like to assure Mr Ng that MOM already regularly engages tripartite partners, academics and NGOs in the course of our work. These range from employment standards, supporting low-wage workers and retirement adequacy, to foreign worker management. Going forward, I would like to assure Mr Ng Page: 121 that we will continue to engage our social partners as we try to shape the new employment landscape together. Ms ThanaletchimiI raised the issue of incentivising companies which hire older workers with lower foreign worker levies. Mr Chairman, firms which hire older workers currently benefit from the Special Employment Credit. A wage credit to firms, we believe, is a better way to incentivise the employers to hire more older workers and to keep them, rather than to give them a discount in foreign worker levy. This way, even firms without foreign workers can still benefit and be motivated to hire and retain our local older workers. Lowering the foreign worker levy may also lead to the unintentional outcome of these companies hiring more foreign workers, instead of keeping our older workers. Ms Foo Mee Har raised the topping up of CPF and the automatic transfer of CPF between couples to enable them to enjoy higher returns on CPF savings. Let me say that I am in full agreement with Ms Foo that we should encourage more and more CPF members to top up the CPF accounts of their spouses, especially working husbands topping up the accounts of the women at home. That is the reason why we have amended the regulation to enable more members to do that kind of transfer like lowering the qualifying savings from the full retirement sum to the basic retirement sum.”
“It is a fairly standard practice in the industries and in Singapore today. This is the reason why MOM is focusing our efforts on helping retrenched workers to go back to work as quickly as possible because unemployment is low, under-employment is low, long-term unemployment is low and there is a widespread practice of paying retrenchment benefits. The top priority for many workers is to go back to work. That is the reason why, earlier, I spent a lot of time going into a lot of details to explain the kind of options that we are offering to our workers. I hope that more of them can tap on the programmes that I mentioned earlier. 7.30 pm Mr Azmoon suggested that one way is to allow workers to tap on the CPF savings to finance such schemes like TIS. My reservation is that today, CPF is already used to meet housing, education, healthcare and retirement adequacy. In other words, we should be very careful not to deplete these savings further by using them for other purposes unless it is really necessary to do so. For now, let us focus in helping the unemployed workers to go back to work. Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked about retrenchment benefits and whether we can introduce compulsory retrenchment benefits. The tripartite partners have discussed this from time to time. The last time was at the recent review of the Employment Act and they came to the conclusion that it is important to allow the employers, employees and unions to continue to have the flexibility to negotiate this rather than prescribing it in the law. This is because the different retrenching companies are in different circumstances and therefore, it cannot be a one-size-fits-all rule. As I had mentioned earlier, according to our labour survey, nine out of 10 retrenching companies did pay retrenchment benefits.”
“In the case of freelancers, they are what we call the "own account" holders, so they are like self-employed. They do not have employee-employer relationship. That percentage of the workforce has dropped from 9.2% to 7.9% over the same period, from 2009 to 2015. In other words, both employees on contract as well as freelancers as a percentage of the workforce have been on the decline. The question is whether they choose to be in this situation − contract or freelancer, or they are forced to be in this position. On the part of MOM, what we are trying to do our best is that we offer them options. In other words, if they feel that they do not want to continue with their contract work or be freelancers, I hope they will step forward, take advantage of our CSP, PCP, P-Max and all the other programmes that I talked about earlier. On the issue of unemployment insurance raised by Mr Azmoon, first of all, let me make it clear that I do sympathise and empathise with workers who are affected by retrenchments and I appreciate the suggestions by various Members, including Ms Sylvia Lim and Mr Patrick Tay, for unemployment benefits or insurance schemes to help cushion the impact on such workers. As I mentioned earlier, our situation in Singapore is quite different from the situation in most of these other countries. Our unemployment rates are low and our long-term unemployment rates are also low. At the same time, and this is something that is worth taking note, the practice of paying retrenchment benefits in Singapore is widespread. According to our latest survey, nine in 10 of the retrenching companies paid retrenchment benefits, and for the retrenched workers, likewise, nine in 10 received retrenchment benefits, including those from the non-unionised companies.”
“TAFEP's finding or assessment carries a lot of weight with MOM. So far, the employers approached by TAFEP have mostly heeded the advice by TAFEP and made adjustments to their employment practices. Earlier, I mentioned about the "triple weak" and "triple strong". In fact, that will be another avenue for TAFEP to step up the effort not just in terms of promotion but advocacy as well. Underemployment raised by Ms Sylvia Lim. Along with the unemployment figures, statistics on time-related underemployment and discouraged workers are also published annually, every year, in the Report on Labour Force in Singapore. The last report was released in January 2016. In the latest report, Singapore's time-related underemployment rate was 2.9% by June 2015. It is low by international standards. What is even more encouraging is that it is on the decline. So, for example, in 2013, it was more than 4%, then in 2014, it went below 4% and last year, 2015, it went below 3%. This has to do with the tight labour market that we face today. As mentioned by Ms Sylvia Lim, time-related underemployment is the only internationally accepted statistical definition of underemployment and it is recommended by the International Labour Organization, so we comply with that. As regards the share of discouraged workers in the resident workforce in 2015, it was stable and low at 0.4%. This is similar to the OECD countries. On the issue of contract workers and freelancers, Ms Sylvia Lim asked whether they are on the increase, whether they reflect a rise in underemployment. The percentage of workers on contract, that means they are working as employees but on contract, has dropped from 12.7% in 2009 to Page: 120 11.3% last year. So, 12.7% dropped to 11.3%.”
“Chairman, please allow me to address some of the other cuts put up by the Members. On the Employment Claims Tribunal raised by Mr Patrick Tay, we will set up the Employment Claims Tribunal early next year. I want to assure Mr Patrick Tay that we are equally mindful of preserving the role of tripartism in dispute resolution. Therefore, we will build in a higher claims cap in certain situations where the unions are involved. We will be introducing a new Bill later this year, which will include the necessary changes related to the Act that Mr Patrick Tay spoke of, to implement these changes. On the FCF Advertising Requirements raised by Ms Thanaletchimi and Mr Chong Kee Hiong, I want to clarify that even though the FCF requirements for job advertisements is capped at $12,000 but all jobs, regardless of salaries, including those above $12,000 are also subjected to fair consideration. In other words, if a company is perceived to have adopted unfair practices, especially discrimination based on nationality, we will investigate. If found to be substantiated, the company is subjected to additional scrutiny, like those that I have mentioned earlier. On TAFEP, Mr Faisal Manap raised the need to strengthen the framework for workplace discrimination. Currently, the arrangement is that TAFEP and MOM work together to promote fair employment as well as address discrimination in terms of whatever practices that we come across. The arrangement is that the tripartite partner, through TAFEP, will do the promotion work whereas the enforcement will be through MOM. In other words, TAFEP, upon their promotion and investigation, if they come across any organisation which, in their view, has adopted the unfair practices, TAFEP will alert MOM and then we will take the enforcement.”
“So, let us be determined and strive hard together, make every job a better job, make every worker a better worker and make every career an even better career. Let us sprint forth towards the future economy and the future Singapore. (In English): Mdm Chair, I became an active member of Singapore Tripartism when I joined NTUC in 1996, 20 years ago. At that time, I learnt from then Secretary-General Brother Lim Boon Heng that a job is the best welfare for our workers. Then, came the Asian Financial Crisis when we saw record retrenchments; I think about 29,000 workers lost their jobs. Unemployment went up. Workers and union leaders became even more and more worried about the future. So, I decided to add one more line: a job is the best welfare and full employment is the best protection for our workers. The positive employment outcomes which I outlined earlier and that we have today did not come easy. It did not happen by chance. We actually made it happen here in Singapore. In the Labour Movement, there is a strong spirit of solidarity because the Labour Movement always believes that unity is strength. And I believe that this spirit applies to the whole nation. We have major challenges to overcome, as I had outlined earlier, to transform to become more manpower-lean and productive, to build a stronger Singaporean Core and to strengthen the global competitiveness of the Singapore Workforce. Working in unity, whole-of-Government, whole-of-Tripartism, whole-of-Singapore, I believe we can succeed, and we must succeed to secure the best welfare – good jobs, good careers and the best protection, high employment, low unemployment – for our fellow workers, our fellow Singaporeans. [Applause] Fairness in Employment”
“" Every cloud will have a silver lining. If you run, I will run together with you; if you dash, I will dash together with you. Our future can be bright. If more SMEs run together, the impetus will be stronger and the drive will be bigger. We can push and nudge one another and run towards this bright future. Singapore is not just an economy but a nation. Of course, we need to give our best to strengthen our economy through transformation. Only by doing so will we have enough resources for nation-building. Amid this uncertainty, we will be more pro-business and try to attract the best investments and job opportunities for Singapore. Page: 99 However, we should not forget that the ultimate goal of economic development is to give opportunities for Singaporeans to fulfil their aspirations and ideals and to improve their quality of life. Therefore, not only do we need to be more pro-business, we also need to be more pro-worker, and help fellow Singaporeans constantly strive to better themselves, especially those impacted by the slowing economy. MOM has expanded all the employment assistance schemes to help more workers, including the young, old, rank-and-file and PMETs, to constantly adapt and upgrade themselves as various industries undergo transformation. We will create new jobs for you and help you secure better job opportunities so as to strengthen our workforce with the Singaporean Core. For workers who lose their jobs because of transformation, please do not lose heart. We will help you look for opportunities amidst this crisis, learn new skills and switch careers. We will do our utmost to help you, but meanwhile, you must also do your best to help yourselves, for your own sake, and for the sake of your family.”
“It changes regardless of whether times are good or bad. The difference is, when times are bad, changes are greater and they come faster. The market may be quiet, but this is only what we see on the surface. In reality, the market is undergoing swift changes. This is why, while it is quiet, it is the time to make changes. Only through drastic changes and transformation, with a new look and new attitude, and by preparing well, can we face the future in a better shape. Changes or transformations are often easier said than done, especially for SMEs. This is understandable, which is why I launched LEDS to consolidate all the schemes from various Government agencies, to provide a one-stop service to help SMEs transform. We will work on three areas to help companies develop capabilities, promote manpower development and explore new markets. With the addition of the Automation Support Package, we can speed up the transformation of today, to flourish and grow tomorrow. During this transition period, SMEs may require some room for flexibility in hiring foreign workers, and the LEDS programme has taken this into consideration. In other words, so long as the enterprise has a clear and solid plan for transformation and is determined to persevere, MOM and various Government agencies will definitely give their full support and cooperation. I hope SMEs can make good use of the LEDS programme to make big changes during the economic slowdown and not miss this good opportunity. With the changes taking place in the labour market, the business model of old is no longer relevant to the future economy. "After endless mountains and rivers that leave doubt whether there is a path out, suddenly one encounters the shade of a willow, bright flowers and a lovely village.”
“We are going to help them tap on SkillsFuture to strengthen the Singaporean Core at all levels in these "triple strong" companies: Earn and Learn at entry level; Mid-Career Enhancement; Leadership Development; and to provide greater facilitation for them to bring in foreign talents with the expertise to strengthen and transfer capability to our local PMETs. We can study some of the suggestions made by Mr Seah Kian Peng. One flagship initiative under the HCP is to nurture promising local talents into regional talents, into potential global talents and, tentatively, I intend to call this programme the "Glocal" Talent Development Programme. "Glocal" Talent. G-L-O-C-A-L. Now, through this combination of efforts, countering the "triple weak", partnering the "triple strong", we want to send a clear signal and strong message that whether you are local or foreigner, whether employer or employee, whether you are union or management, we all have a role to play to work together to strengthen the Page: 98 Singapore workforce to compete for the best investments and jobs to Singapore for all to share. Mdm Chair, if I may speak in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] During recent conversations with SME bosses, I asked them for their views on the current economic situation. They said the market is very quiet. Then I asked about their plans, and they said that since the outlook is uncertain, it is better to stay put. Their view is that, if they do nothing, they will not make mistakes, so they will ride this out first and make plans later. I am not a businessman, but through my interactions with business leaders in the past years, I have learnt a few things that are worth pondering over. The world is ever-changing.”