SINGAPORE: Singapore's labour movement is launching a new initiative to help low-income workers defray the higher costs of living.

Come 1 May, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) will distribute S$4 million worth of new discount vouchers called ‘U Stretch’.

These will benefit some 80,000 union workers with a household income of S$1,800 or less or a per capita income of S$500 and below.

According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s estimate on 28 February, the inflation rate is expected to hit a high of 4.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent.

For Singaporeans, every S$10 earned is now worth about S$9.50 and low-wage workers and their families are the hardest hit.

So to help them, NTUC has come up with the new ‘U Stretch’ discount voucher to 'top up' the five per cent or 50 cents of every S$10 lost to inflation.

80,000 of these workers will get a ‘U Stretch’ booklet consisting of 100 discount coupons valid till the end of 2008. The coupons give a five per cent saving for every S$10 spent at NTUC co-operatives.

These are NTUC FairPrice, NTUC Childcare, NTUC Club, NTUC Eldercare, NTUC Healthcare and NTUC Link.

The booklet will help each worker stretch their dollar by up to S$1,000 in expenditure and will help the 80,000 workers stretch S$80 million worth of purchases over the next eight months.

This will cost the labour movement S$4 million - S$2 million of which came from the Singapore Labour Foundation, S$1 million from NTUC, S$500,000 from NTUC FairPrice, with NTUC Income and NTUC Choice Home each contributing S$250,000.

Non-union workers who need help could also benefit.

NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say, said: "What we foresee is that in our community, they can actually make use of the FairPrice food vouchers together with this U Stretch discount vouchers. For example, in our community, some CCC and grassroots advisers use CCC ComCare to provide assistance to the needy.

“So some of them may want to consider, in addition to giving the needy the normal FairPrice voucher, is this U Stretch voucher. So, every dollar that we give to the needy can be stretched further by the five per cent discount."

Mr Lim stressed that the 'U Stretch' discount vouchers on their own will not solve the financial problems of the poor. But it could complement existing government help schemes, such as ComCare, to create a 'multiplier effect' and help Singaporeans stretch their purchasing power.

Earlier, Mr Lim led 60 union leaders on a tour of the NTUC FairPrice Fresh Food Distribution Centre.

To help the poor cope with rising prices, he said the newly launched NTUC FairPrice Foundation may help grassroots organisations buy the ‘U Stretch’ vouchers by paying for up to one-quarter of the cost.

Grassroots organisations can come up with the money to purchase the vouchers to pay for the five per cent discount and from there each grassroots organisations can decide how to distribute and who to distribute to.

In addition to the grassroots paying for the vouchers at full five per cent discount through their ComCare Fund, the NTUC Foundation is considering to contribute up to 25 per cent of the cost of purchase.

In other words, the grassroots organisations would only have to fund three-quarters of the five per cent discount. The other one-quarter of the discount will be funded by the NTUC FairPrice, through the FairPrice Foundation.

Zainuddin Nordin, Mayor, Central Singapore CDC, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, said: "The U Stretch vouchers will allow us to complement the programmes that we already have. The vouchers scheme varies the approaches that we can take.

“For people who are already receiving the assistance, I think it will be good for us to complement it because we realise that the dollar now has in a way 'shrunk' and we want to bring it back to its value before the inflation. So having the U stretch vouchers will allow us to do this more effectively,” he added.

Union leaders said other ways to stretch the dollar include switching to house-brand products, which are up to 20 per cent cheaper. - CNA/vm