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SINGAPORE: Singapore's labour movement has urged the new National Productivity and Continuing Education Council chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean to focus more on re-creating jobs.
Speaking on the second day of the debate on Budget 2010, NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Halimah Yacob noted that currently, the focus has been largely on upgrading workers' skills to add value to companies and make them more employable.
She told Parliament that there is now greater urgency to give jobs a "makeover" by upgrading and re-creating them.
Madam Halimah said this would motivate Singaporeans to go for training and see clear benefits in doing so. They would then be able to enjoy better pay and working conditions, as well as more challenging jobs.
But for more inclusive growth, Madam Halimah said that changing workers' mindset towards training alone is not enough. She said the onus is also on companies to upgrade the quality of jobs that they offer to workers and to attract more Singaporeans.
Another area that the National Trades Union Congress hopes the council will focus on is upgrading the knowledge and capabilities of managers, so that they can send the right message about productivity and create superior systems and motivate workers.
Madam Halimah stressed that Singapore cannot have a superior workforce contributing to an outstanding performance if the country has poor or incompetent managers. Neither will it work if companies merely increase targets and tell workers to work faster and longer, or transfer the responsibility to workers if output falls.
"We have been able to get out of the recession quickly because of our strong tripartite relationship, where workers and unions worked together with companies to cut costs and save jobs," she said.
"I am confident that with this clear focus on increasing productivity to boost wages, and if we all work together, we will be able to make the transition to an innovation driven, higher productivity economy that is also inclusive and benefits everyone," she added.
- CNA/sc
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