$13m fund to help workers upgrade their skills

The Straits Times, 8 Nov 2012

FOR 35 years, Mr Ong Thian Sang drove technicians to inspect the 10,000 power substations dotted all over Singapore.

Now, the 61-year-old is qualified to conduct the checks himself after his employer, Singapore Power, sent him on a five-month course this year which made him a certified technician.

His monthly pay also rose from $1,500 to $1,750 - a 17 per cent hike.

To nudge more firms to help workers upgrade their skills to earn higher pay, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) yesterday launched a $13 million training fund for those in the Oil, Petrochemical, Energy and Chemical (OPEC) sectors.

The fund will subsidise the training of 1,000 workers over the next three years.

Besides training those already in the sectors, part of the fund will be used by firms as training allowances for new hires. This will encourage them to hire locals, said NTUC vice-president K. Karthikeyan, who added that Singaporeans shun jobs in these sectors even though they pay well.

"Our young Singaporeans perceive the jobs in the sectors as demanding, dangerous and in a dirty environment," he said.

According to the Manpower Ministry, the median basic monthly pay of a chemical engineering technician was $3,224 last year.

Yesterday, Singapore Power was held up as an example of a company which values old workers.

"Singapore Power does not cut the pay when a worker reaches the age of 62," said Mr R.K.S. Nachiappan, general secretary of the Union of Power and Gas Employees.

Mr Ong was grateful his firm wanted to train him even though he was already 61 years old.

When asked whether it was difficult for him to make the switch, he replied without missing a beat: "Not difficult because I have been observing how technicians conduct checks for many years."

The NTUC also announced yesterday a training-based wage plan where workers in those sectors get a starting monthly basic pay of $1,500. This can go up to $7,000 if workers upgrade their skills.

Since June, the NTUC has rolled out similar plans for workers including those in the childcare, hotel, health-care and marine engineering sectors.