SINGAPORE - The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) has grown its membership by more than 30 per cent in the last three years to 1.3 million, said NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng on May 1.
Giving the latest update on NTUC’s membership expansion at the annual May Day Rally, Mr Ng said about 45 per cent of union members are professionals, managers and executives (PMEs), which is similar to the national ratio.
NTUC has set a goal of reaching 1.5 million members by 2030.
“Today, PMEs constitute more of our workforce, and in time to come, PMEs will form the majority of the Singapore workforce, given our evolving education landscape,” Mr Ng said, pledging to do more for this group.
Besides the Compass (Complementarity Assessment) framework to level the playing field for Singaporeans in the job market, and upcoming legislation to promote workplace fairness and safeguard workers against discrimination, the labour movement is also moving to improve human resources practices here, Mr Ng said.
Compass is a points-based framework that the Ministry of Manpower uses to evaluate the attributes of individual Employment Pass applicants and their prospective employer, in deciding to issue the pass.
In another example, the labour chief said ST Engineering Staff Union and ST Engineering set up a company training committee (CTC) in July 2021 that helped workers, of whom 40 per cent are PMEs, acquire new skills.
Beyond ST Engineering, Mr Ng said that across the 150 companies that have accessed the CTC grant, more than 3,000 workers will receive an average wage increase of 5 per cent on top of their annual increment or will benefit from enhanced career development plans.
He noted that NTUC’s career centres are now serving a wider range of PME profiles, including equity advisers and cyber-security managers.
In his address at the rally, Mr Ng, who took over as labour chief in May 2018, recounted a moment when outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong left a deep impression on him.
Mr Ng, who was then Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, had suggested that the Government consider having a Downtown South development in Sentosa for workers. He made the suggestion at a Greater Southern Waterfront redevelopment briefing to the Cabinet in 2019.
His proposal was taken up by PM Lee.
“Thank you for Downtown South. This was to date my most productive negotiation – all in 30 seconds,” Mr Ng said.
Later in his May Day Rally speech, PM Lee responded to Mr Ng’s recounting of the anecdote.
“Your sec-gen didn’t brag about his negotiating skills apropos this item, but when he put it up, he also asked for a budget and we also agreed within 30 seconds,” said PM Lee, drawing cheers from the unionists in the audience.
