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SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will introduce an employment dispute resolution process to help junior and mid-level professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) earning up to S$4,500 and their employers address common employment issues.
These include salary arrears, retrenchment benefit payment and other employment-related contractual issues.
Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong said on Tuesday this process will be in place next year.
Speaking at an industry conference, he said that as their representation in the workforce grows, more PMEs may face employment-related issues. They now form more than half of the local workforce, up from around 40 per cent a decade ago.
The dispute resolution process would primarily involve the use of mediation. It will ride on the existing tripartite partnership with the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).
Explaining the process, Mr Gan said MOM would lead the mediation session, with the support of SNEF and NTUC.
PMEs who are union members, but are not eligible for collective bargaining or limited representation, may make use of this proposed mediation process.
If the dispute cannot be resolved through mediation, the PME employee may pursue his claims through the civil courts. In addition, he may refer disputes on salary claims for adjudication by MOM.
Mr Gan said the setting up of this new dispute resolution process will help save PMEs and their employers the cost of going through the civil court route by giving them the opportunity to mediate at an early stage, with assistance from tripartite partners.
Through this tripartite partnership approach, MOM believes that many of such disputes could be resolved amicably.
The exact details are currently being worked out in consultation with the tripartite partners.
Employers say a quick way to resolve disputes is necessary.
"Salary disputes and retrenchment disputes, all these are money issues," said Stephen Lee, president of SNEF. "If you can settle it quickly, and you can just get on with life, rather than have it protracted. And some of these sums are not really big enough for the PMEs to want to take it to court and hire a lawyer."
The ministry is expecting the revised dispute resolution process to benefit more than 500,000, or half of all PMEs in the workforce as well as their employers.
Mr Gan also raised the issue of productivity. To address low productivity growth, he said companies must find innovative ways of delivering higher value products and services, redesign their systems for greater efficiency, invest in technology and train their workers.
- CNA/yb
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