Subsidised driving licences for low-wage workers

NTUC to pay 90% of Class 3 or 4 fees for Singaporeans and PRs

By Janice Heng, The Straits Times, 5 Jul 2012

IN A move to help low-wage workers, the labour movement is going to pay 90 per cent of the course fees for them to get a Class 3 or 4 driving licence.

This means they pay about $200 or less, instead of $2,000, for a Class 3 licence to drive cars and vans.

A Class 4 licence for heavy vehicles will cost them $171.50, instead of $849.11.

But the subsidy will be given only to Singaporeans and permanent residents who want jobs in the transport and logistics industry, where there is a severe shortage of such drivers, said the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) yesterday at its launch.

Another condition is that they must earn $1,700 or less a month, or have a monthly income of $1,400 or below per household member. The jobless can also apply for the subsidy.

The scheme, introduced by the NTUC's transport and logistics services cluster, was cheered by Mr Siva Balan, who had wanted a Class 4 licence since last year.

Said the 38-year-old: 'I went down to the driving centre then, but the course was too expensive for me.'

He signed up yesterday, and hopes to get a job as a tour bus driver.

Under the scheme, job seekers are also paid a training allowance, and can finish the course in six to nine months, instead of the usual 12 to 18 months, because lessons will be intensified.

After getting their licence, they will be placed in such jobs as delivery van drivers and bus drivers.

Mr Azmeer Rohani, 32, made the leap to a Class 4 licence when the scheme was being tested under a pilot programme.

He now earns $2,700 a month as a driver and operations executive in a logistics firm, up from $1,700 previously when he drove new imported cars off ships.

NTUC aims to train and place 1,000 drivers in jobs by the first quarter of next year, and 5,000 by 2015. Initially, it hopes to place 500, then 2,000, in jobs paying more than $1,500

Unionist Desmond Choo, who heads the cluster, said the scheme would benefit employers as well: 'There's a lot of manpower constraints across the industry, from public transport operators to logistics companies.'

Courier services company Yamato Transport agrees. Said its human resource manager Adeline Yoke: 'In Singapore, people very rarely want to join the transport industry.'

Many who respond to its job ads are foreigners.

The transport and logistics services cluster also presented its progressive wage plan yesterday - the first sector to do so since labour chief Lim Swee Say introduced the concept last month for cleaners.

The plan sets out a wage ladder which workers can climb. For instance, despatch riders with Class 2 motorcycle licences earn $1,000 to $1,200 a month. With a Class 3 licence, they could make $1,300 to $1,500 as a van or taxi driver.

Becoming a bus captain, with a Class 4 licence, could mean $2,200 to $2,500 a month.

Other industry clusters will reveal their progressive wage plans in the months ahead, said NTUC.

Firms are short of delivery drivers
NTUC steps in to subsidise driving course fees for Singaporeans and PRs

By Janice Heng, The Straits Times, 9 Jul 2012

ALMOST every day, plant nursery owner Jeffrey Tay has to drive around the island to deliver plants and garden supplies.

The 46-year-old has no choice but to help out because delivery drivers - especially Singaporeans - are in short supply. His firm, Song Lang Garden, has only one driver and he works only part-time.

Other employers also told The Straits Times that driver positions are difficult to fill though job- seekers generally do not find the pay unattractive.

The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) estimates that drivers with a Class 3 licence - for vans and cars - can earn $1,300 to $1,500 a month, while those with a Class 4 licence for heavy vehicles can take home $2,200 to $2,500 a month. But the applicants are put off by the long hours, shift work and heavy lifting that come with such jobs.

Drivers in logistics firms may also have to load and unload goods, said RichLand Logistics human resource executive Janice Hong. 'But not a lot of Singaporeans want to do manual work, especially if they are more educated.'

The 12-hour shifts are also a sticking point and new recruits who find the job 'very tough' tend to resign after some weeks or months, she noted.

At Song Lang Garden, drivers do not have to do heavy lifting, and their work hours are from 9am to 7pm. Still, this 10-hour workday is deemed too long by some candidates, said Mr Tay. Local workers also prefer five-day work weeks but Mr Tay said he needs drivers for weekends as well.

Some interviewees at Yamato Transport asked if they could ply a fixed route, and lost interest when they heard otherwise.

But such attitudes may not be the only reason for the tight supply. In NTUC's view, not all job-seekers can afford to get an appropriate driving licence to take up such jobs in the first place.

This group is thus the focus of the labour movement's latest step to tackle the driver shortage.

Last Wednesday, it launched a programme to subsidise 90 per cent of driving course fees for Singaporeans and permanent residents, and place them in driving jobs. It aims to place 1,000 drivers by the first quarter of next year and 5,000 by 2015.

But logistics firms' labour woes go beyond a shortfall of drivers. 'The problem is also in filling other positions, such as warehouse assistants,' said an HR executive at Warehouse Logistics Net Asia, where 15 of its 24 drivers are Singaporeans.

Delivery firm TNT Express faces a similar problem. At a job fair for the transport and logistics sector held in conjunction with NTUC's training programme launch, the eight positions TNT sought to fill were for logistics assistants, not drivers.