NTUC, bosses disagree over foreign workers issue

By Kor Kian Beng, The Straits Times, 15 Oct 2011

IN A rare show of disagreement, the labour movement and Singapore's main employers' group made public yesterday their different views on how best to ensure bosses adopt a Singaporeans First policy when hiring and grooming workers.

Their differences boiled down to whether there was a need for new measures to make it harder for employers to turn to foreigners when seeking workers.

The position of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) is that more measures are needed to curb employers' reliance on foreign workers, for two reasons: Cheap foreign workers suppress the wages of locals, and can lead to yet more instances of a company being dominated by these employees, possibly of the same nationality.

But the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) argues that additional measures to further control the hiring of foreigners will, among other things, add to costs and make them less competitive. What it prefers is for employers to intensify efforts to hire and groom Singaporeans, and for measures targeted at providing retraining and better job-matching.

Both sides gave their positions in separate statements, with the SNEF's made on behalf of 17 business chambers and industry associations.

They were issued after a tripartite panel yesterday gave an update on the feedback received for proposed guidelines on fair employment practices, with a focus on ensuring locals come first in hiring and grooming for management roles.

The guidelines are part of the Government's pledge to put Singaporeans first in jobs, education and housing, and will be ready by the year end .

The Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP) said it would consider 'reasonable and practical' ideas for the guidelines. The public has till Oct 24 to give feedback on it.

Meanwhile, former veteran unionists, like Mr Thomas Thomas, are not perturbed by the disagreement between NTUC and SNEF.

It may be a departure from the usual low-key, behind-closed-doors negotiations of the tripartite partners, but bringing discussions on labour issues into the open could help to educate the public on the challenges faced by both unionists and employers, said Mr Thomas, 58, who was an NTUC leader for 19 years.

'It's only harmful if it's done for posturing and playing to the gallery. I think good sense will eventually prevail, and both sides will come to a solution.'

At the moment, both sides are agreed on one thing: It is important that Singaporeans remain the core of the workforce.

NTUC said sustained social and economic progress can be achieved only by nurturing a Singaporean core at all levels, even as it supports a diversified workforce. It is mulling ideas from unionists for changes to two government schemes to improve a local's work prospects.

One is to impose quotas on foreign professionals on Q1-type passes, the lowest Employment Pass (EP) for those earning at least $2,800 a month, 'unless efforts by employers to attract, retain and nurture Singaporeans in all major sectors of our economy are effective'. Currently, there is no quota for EP holders.

Another idea is for a tiered S Pass scheme with higher qualifying salaries. The scheme for semi-skilled foreigners has a minimum salary of $2,000 a month.

The SNEF is against these suggestions, saying new measures would make the labour market more rigid for employers.

It also pointed to measures introduced last year that raised foreign worker levies and reduced quotas for foreigners.

'We are concerned that without (access to foreigners), our competitiveness will erode gradually as talent goes elsewhere, and Singaporeans will lose out on many growth opportunities over the long term,' said the SNEF. It noted countries like New Zealand and Denmark have changed labour laws to make it easier for employers to hire skilled foreigners.

Also, foreigners play a key role here by taking up jobs locals shun, staff labour-intensive operations like call centres, and bring in skills that are scarce in Singapore, like private bankers, said the SNEF.

Employers interviewed welcomed NTUC's suggestion for the TAFEP guidelines to give incentives so that companies will hire Singaporeans first.

Japanese chemical giant Teijin Polycarbonate's assistant human resource manager Audrey Seah agreed with NTUC's proposal to groom more locals for management.She said more than 90 per cent of Teijin's 183 employees here are local.

But Mr Neil McGregor, chief executive of Singapore LNG Corporation, which is building a liquefied natural gas terminal here, wants some leeway as the power sector needs skilled foreigners: 'We believe special concession should be given to specific industries the Government is trying to build up and which will be of strategic importance to Singapore's well-being.'

'Subjecting employers to additional administrative hurdles before work passes can be approved will lengthen the time for hiring, add more costs and new rigidities, and be unnecessarily onerous on employers especially the small and medium enterprises. This will undermine Singapore's labour market flexibility which has been a key competitive advantage in attracting and increasing investments that create jobs for Singaporeans.'

Singapore National Employers Federation, arguing against new measures to curtail employers' ability to hire foreigners

'We should put in every effort to attract, retain and nurture Singaporeans in all major sectors of our economy and at all levels especially the higher levels. This would ensure a Singaporean core or economic majority and in most cases a majority, in both existing and new industries.'

National Trades Union Congress, calling for more measures to further reduce reliance on foreigners

Foreign worker data

'It is good to let the public know these figures.'

MR NG YA KEN: 'The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) disagreed on whether to impose more restrictive measures on hiring foreign workers ('NTUC, bosses disagree over foreign workers issue'; Oct 15). But no figures were reported to support their arguments. The basic data to start with would be the number of local people who are affected due to employment of foreigners, from NTUC; and figures on the shortage of workers in various positions and industries, from SNEF. The Government could also contribute the statistics it has. It is good to let the public know these figures so that they have a clearer picture of the situation.'

ST Forum, 29 Oct 2011

Policies are rational but politics is emotional

While in town recently, British politician Peter Mandelson spoke about a party's loss of emotional connection with voters and how that can lead to defeat at the polls. Insight reports on the discussions his comments sparked.

By Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 15 Oct 2011

HE WAS a co-architect of Britain's New Labour movement, which swept the party to victory in 1997 and helped it stay in power for 13 years.

But during a recent visit here, Lord Peter Mandelson was more focused on the reasons for Labour's loss at last year's polls.

He identified one crucial factor: emotional connection.

'As a party, we had begun to drift, to misplace our New Labour identity... Finally, we lost what I can best describe as our emotional connection with our voters,' he said.

Lord Mandelson, a former British secretary of state for business and European Union trade commissioner, was in town last month as a Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellow.

His words struck a chord with his Singaporean audience.

Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy dean Kishore Mahbubani said the two words to take away from Lord Mandelson's lecture were 'emotional connection'.

Soon after, an extract from Lord Mandelson's speech appeared on the People's Action Party's (PAP) website. It also generated fresh discussion online on the disconnect between the Government and voters.

The challenge of reconnecting with voters is an issue that has been much on the minds of PAP leaders since May, when the party saw its share of the national vote slide to 60.1 per cent - the lowest since Independence in 1965.

At the National Day Rally in August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stressed that going forward, 'we have to get our politics right as well as our policies right'.

And that means appealing to people's emotions.

'Policies are rational but politics is emotional,' was how Lord Mandelson put it. In politics, people are driven by emotional forces like passion, ambition and ideals, he said.

But after 52 years in power, is the PAP able to summon such emotional force among voters, and to move the people it governs?

Catering to elderly in rental flats

Upgrading programmes to cater to elderly in rental flats

Upgrading projects include features such as non-slip tiles and support bars

By Daryl Chin, The Straits Times, 23 Oct 2011

His one-room apartment is bereft of most creature comforts, save for a bed stacked with two thin mattresses and an old television set.

Everything is neatly arranged, from the toothbrush in the toilet to the single pot in the cooking area. Retired technician Lam Chin Lai, 80, lives in a sparsely furnished rental flat in North Bridge Road, meant for the needy with no family support and other housing options. He lives frugally on one or two meals a day.

Nearly half of the 44,000 rental units in Singapore are occupied by someone like Mr Lam - 40 per cent of these flats have at least one person aged 65 and above. It is a figure that has been constant for the past five years, said the Housing Board.

In 1992, elderly households made up just 20 per cent. Rental flats have been in the news recently. Last week, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said addressing the housing needs of those living in such subsidised flats was one of his top priorities. Such units have also been slowly evolving to cater to the elderly.

Of the various upgrading programmes, the one that has benefited seniors the most is Project LIFE (Lift Improvement and Facilities Enhancement for the elderly), jointly implemented by HDB, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and the National Council of Social Service.

Under Project LIFE, one-room rental flats with a relatively high concentration of elderly residents are retrofitted with features such as the Alert Alarm System, support handbars, non-slip tiles in the toilets, and taps with lift-up handles. There are lifts on every floor of the rental blocks, where possible.

A 1993 pilot project in three blocks has now been implemented in 53 blocks of one-room rental flats, benefiting 15,800 households.

Academics call for more detailed, regular data sharing

Better info sharing will benefit researchers and help build trust in govt

By Janice Heng & Cai Haoxiang, The Straits Times, 25 Oct 2011

THE Government has pledged to share more information - and the people who will make the most use of it hope that it will also be shared better.

Whether it is economists or sociologists speaking, the call is the same: for detailed and even raw data, and regular rather than ad hoc releases.

In Parliament last Thursday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stated the need to 'take a much more open approach to government and to governance'.

Among other things, this would involve sharing more, 'whether it's information on population trends, employment figures or foreign workers'.

Academics whom The Straits Times spoke to welcomed the move, but noted that simply having more information would not be enough. Top of their wish list is more detailed data - or even whole datasets that they can mine on their own.

For instance, employment data could be broken down by income group, suggested DBS economist Irvin Seah.

Economist Tilak Abeysinghe of the National University of Singapore (NUS) observed that many research students analysed data from other countries as it was hard to get data on Singapore.

If they could analyse Singapore data instead, 'this would provide a rich source of information for policy purposes'.

Economist Hui Weng Tat of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) argued that what was publicly available now was 'too aggregated and cannot be used for deep analysis'.

Apart from being more detailed, releases should be also more regular, said academics. They observed that information on topics such as immigration tended to be provided on an ad hoc basis, such as in response to parliamentary questions.

Researchers are not the only ones who will benefit from better data sharing. It will let Singaporeans scrutinise policy - and help build trust in the Government.

It would also aid groups such as voluntary welfare organisations, which need such information to make plans, said NUS sociologist Paulin Straughan.

Providing information would show that the Government had nothing to hide, said assistant professor Eugene Tan of the Singapore Management University.

He observed that, in the absence of information, Singaporeans might feel that there was 'something fishy going on'.

LKYSPP associate professor Tan Khee Giap warned, however, against the public release of potentially sensitive information. The Government would have to trust that people would use the data in a constructive manner before it would share it, he said.

But the Government should learn to do precisely that - trust Singaporeans, argued SMU associate professor Bridget Welsh.

Now, data is released 'selectively in a top-down approach', with the assumption that ordinary people cannot handle data in a sophisticated way. This mindset 'does a disservice to the Singaporean public', said Professor Welsh.

Singaporeans want openness not only in terms of data but also in transparency about decision-making.

In Parliament last Thursday, Chua Chu Kang GRC MP Zaqy Mohamad cited the Electoral Boundaries Report as one example.

Published before every general election, the report sets out the boundaries of the electoral districts. In early years, it included analyses on population numbers, maps and boundary options. But since 1976, the boundaries report committee stopped offering detailed explanations for the changes it had made.

There is 'a need to better justify the changes - and earlier', said Mr Zaqy.

Ms Audrey Wong, former artistic co-director of The Substation Theatre, called for transparency in another area: When the National Arts Council refuses funding.

'At the moment, if you don't succeed in getting funding, there's no explanation,' she said. 'Artists will not know if the reason was something as small as an incorrectly filled form.'

Two areas where information gaps can be plugged

Researchers and university dons on Monday pinpointed the gaps in information for two hot-button issues: foreigners and wages.

They argued that more detailed data would enable them to better gauge trends and evaluate the impact of government policy on Singapore's economy.

DBS economist Irvin Seah, for instance, said quarterly figures on the number of Employment Pass, S Pass, and Work Permit holders would give a better picture of how the Government is calibrating its manpower policy to rely less on unskilled foreign workers.

'We can then tell whether we're moving towards a knowledge-driven economy that no longer focuses on labour injections,' he said.

Currently, the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) annual labour force report gives the number of foreigners and locals employed, but not for the different work pass holders.

Labour economist Hui Weng Tat wants to know the proportion of foreign workers in each specific industry, like cleaning services.

'Trade unions may say wages are being depressed in the industry, but are foreign workers the cause of it? We don't know because separate figures on locals and foreigners are not available,' he said.

Now, one can only deduce the numbers from the quotas set for each industry, he added.

Earlier this month, however, the MOM said it would give the unemployment rate of citizens every three months.

Previously, it gave the unemployment rate of residents, which includes permanent residents.

But its website says its statistics meet the guidelines of the International Labour Organisation and the standards set by the International Monetary Fund.

When contacted, an MOM spokesman said data on different categories of work pass holders is compiled annually and will be given 'on request to the media or public'.

Last week, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke on the need for the Government to share more information with people, in response to a changing political climate.

'As we go forward, we will review the rules on what we are putting out and over time, we will do progressively more,' he said.

CIMB economist Song Seng Wun calls for monthly information on retail sales and tourist arrivals to be published earlier, instead of two months later, to help businesses make better decisions.

Economist Chew Soon Beng urges the Central Provident Fund Board to 'trust Singaporean academics not to reveal data at the micro level'.

Sociologist Tan Ern Ser wants data on Singaporeans separated from permanent residents, instead of combining and categorising them both as 'residents'.

'This is important to academics and people in policy studies as they are often interested in analysing only citizens, and in some cases, to compare citizens with permanent residents,' said Dr Tan.

CAI HAOXIANG AND JANICE HENG

GIC: Level of disclosure rising over the years

The Straits Times, 28 Oct 2011

THE Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) has been disclosing more of its investments in recent years.

However, divulging everything is not in the interests of Singapore, said GIC chief investment officer Ng Kok Song.

Mr Ng told Bloomberg yesterday that there has been more disclosure with each report put out over the past four years.

'We want to share as much as we can, subject to our competitive position as an investor not being jeopardised.'

He was responding to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's remarks last week about more openness and communication from the Government on policy decisions. Mr Lee said then that the Government will also share more information, noting that it is publishing more information about investments by GIC.

Since 2008, GIC has been issuing regular annual reports in which it reveals how its investments have been doing on a long-term basis as well as the broad areas in which the firm is invested.

The latest annual report shows that the 20-year annual real rate of return, after taking into account global inflation, rose from 3.8 per cent to 3.9 per cent for the year ended March 31.

It also said GIC, which manages more than US$100 billion (S$126 billion) of Singapore's reserves, invested 51 per cent of its portfolio in public equities and 20 per cent in fixed income such as bonds.

Another 25 per cent is invested in real estate, private equity, absolute return strategies and natural resources. The last 4 per cent of its portfolio is in cash.

But GIC does not disclose the exact size of its portfolio nor does it fully detail which companies it has stakes in.

Mr Ng said: 'The people of Singapore expect us to manage their money in a way which protects their interests. Sometimes protection of interest may mean that we cannot divulge everything.

'We understand the desire of the public to know. So I think it's a question of finding the appropriate amount of disclosure. Every successive report that we've put out has given more information than previously.'

Promoting acts of kindness in schools

PUPILS at Pei Tong Primary School can get stars for acts of kindness such as helping teachers carry books.

In a project that received $3,000 from the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) to produce a Kindness Passport, pupils receive badges for every 25, 30 or 35 stars collected.

Value education coordinator Nusraat Ali said: 'I've received feedback that pupils are smiling and greeting people more. Thirty per cent of our pupils have already got the full number of stamps and 20 per cent are halfway through.'

The SKM is setting aside up to $50,000 next year for teachers and students in primary and secondary schools to generate acts or ideas that promote kindness. This is the first time its Seed Kindness Fund is supporting projects beyond those in universities and tertiary institutions since 2009.

The amount set aside for tertiary and university proposals is $25,000 a year.

The SKM now funds about two to three university or polytechnic projects yearly. Since 2009, nine schools have been beneficiaries.

For primary and secondary schools, funding for student-led initiatives will be capped at $1,000 each, and at $3,000 for teacher-led ones.

Schools can submit proposals all year round, at least a month before the start of the proposed project.

Over the past few months, however, the SKM has already tested several ideas at various schools.

Woodgrove Secondary School, for example, produced a kindness-related skit and musical based on the themes of respect for parents and self.

Students from Springfield Secondary School received a doodle journal jointly created by teachers and the SKM - in which they can draw and write their thoughts about kindness.

Student Sterling Goh, 13, said: 'I like the journal, especially the pages on anger management. I used to get angry, for example, when people took things from me, but now I follow the steps and I manage to stay calm more easily.'

Feedback from schools involved has been positive.

Ms Anjali Muthiah, a teacher at Woodgrove Secondary School, said: 'It's very important to inculcate kindness in children, but pages and pages of notes or text won't drive the point home.

'Getting them involved in this way is much more effective.'

SHULI SUDDERUDDIN, The Straits Times, 28 Oct 2011

Need financial aid? Here's job help too

North East CDC will integrate services and assistance for the needy
By Kimberly Spykerman, The Straits Times, 28 Oct 2011

MANAGERS and grassroots leaders at North East Community Development Council (CDC) will be expected to do more for needy residents than simply refer them for financial aid.

These front-line staff will also have to provide information about other matters, such as finding a job, as part of a beefed-up community aid package.

The CDC is aiming to provide a 'seamless' experience for residents who come to it for help.

Mr Teo Ser Luck, Mayor of North East District, said at an event last night: 'One of the aims of this is to integrate financial assistance with the job placement programme. So when residents come to us with financial needs, we will check why they have these needs. Perhaps they are jobless?

'So we don't just dish out financial disbursement... It's about integrating all the services and assistance into one package.'

One of the ways the CDC plans to do this is by equipping managers at the community clubs and grassroots leaders with information about its programmes.

These include job placement schemes and those providing financial help with daily household expenses or school fees.

Mr Teo added that the managers will be trained to ask the right questions, give comprehensive advice and make better referrals to the relevant agencies.

This is done to avoid the 'wrong door' problem, he said.

Help for childcare teachers through introduction of Para-Educators and Para-Educarers

New scheme will enable childcare centres to hire teaching assistants
By Janice Tai, The Straits Times, 28 Oct 2011

KINDERGARTEN teacher Norhaidah Nasir found herself struggling to manage her class of 22 young children when her childcare centre switched to small-group learning some years ago.

'I would focus on one group at a time and before you knew it, the other group would start to fight and get restless,' said the 29-year-old teacher from Just Kids Learning Place. 'The experience was quite overwhelming.'

Teachers like her will soon get help under a new scheme announced by Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports Halimah Yacob yesterday.

The new scheme allows childcare centres to hire assistants who can help to prepare and supervise classroom activities as well as look after the children and do administrative work.

Funding will be provided to the centres to train these assistants.

Those who work with children aged 18 months to four years old will be known as para-educarers, while those who work with children aged five to six will be called para-educators.

With these extra pairs of hands, teachers will be able to devote more attention to the children under their charge.

3 Happy Singaporeans

Doctor went beyond call of duty

ON OCT 12, my wife told me she had vomited and was feeling giddy. She was in a cold sweat and her hands were clammy.

I quickly drove her to our family doctor in Yishun Ring Road. At the clinic carpark, my wife had difficulty getting out of the car. When I tried to help her, both of us almost fell - we are in our 70s.

I was helpless and traumatised; never had I seen my wife in such a condition.

I ran to the clinic and told Dr Lam Wai Khin what had happened. He followed me to my car, examined my wife and told me that it could be a stroke and to drive her to the nearby Khoo Teck Puat Hospital immediately.

I was in a state of shock and trying to figure out the shortest route to the hospital. Sensing my unstable state of mind, Dr Lam offered to drive us to the hospital using my car.

At the hospital emergency area, he helped to put my wife onto a wheelchair, before proceeding to park the car.

Later, he handed me a note indicating where my car was parked, in case I had problems locating it.

What transpired clearly shows a spontaneous act of kindness, empathy and compassion.

Thank you once again, Dr Lam, for having gone more than the extra mile.

My wife had a minor stroke and has since been discharged from hospital. She is now recuperating at home.

Eddy Toh

Straits Times Forum, 28 Oct 2011

A chance to move up in life

Do children from less well-off families still have a good shot at doing better than their parents? Insight speaks to experts about the Prime Minister's recent frank admission that Singapore society is stratifying, the challenges on the ground and efforts to address them
By Cai Haoxiang, Janice Heng, The Straits Times, 28 Oct 2011

IT IS a dire prospect that the Government has warned about for decades. Now, by the Prime Minister's own admission, it is already taking place - social stratification, that is, the division of society into different classes or social layers.

In Parliament last Thursday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong did not mince his words, saying: 'Our society is stratifying.'

He summed up the problem this way: 'The children of successful people are doing better, the children of less successful people are doing less well.'

The worry is that Singaporeans are becoming trapped within the socio-economic bracket of their birth, and finding it more difficult than before to move up.

The hardening of social strata has been warned about for years.

Former prime minister Goh Chok Tong spoke about it at least twice, once in his 1995 National Day Rally speech and again in 1999.

In 1995, he said children of successful parents tended to be more successful. 'We must make every effort to remedy wherever we can this natural tendency towards stratification,' he said then.

In 1999, Mr Goh drew a distinction between heartlanders, who made their living here, and cosmopolitans, who spoke English and had skills that plugged them into the global market.

'If cosmopolitans and heartlanders cease to identify with each other, our society will fall apart,' he warned.

This January, social mobility was back in the news when then-Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew revealed that in elite schools like Raffles Institution, at least half of the students had fathers who were university graduates, compared to around 10 per cent in neighbourhood schools.

In March this year, then-Education Minister Ng Eng Hen gave a more upbeat assessment of the situation.

Speaking during Parliament's debate on the Government's Budget, he cited statistics to make the point that social mobility is alive and well.

Half of the pupils in the bottom third by socio-economic background scored in the top two-thirds of their cohort in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE).

'Gratifyingly, our data affirms that the Singapore Story continues for this generation,' Dr Ng told the House.

A shift in stance?

Talking about happiness only leads to unhappiness

Drill into what makes S'poreans happy

By David Chan, for The Straits Times, 27 Oct 2011

THE ongoing debate on citizens' happiness and subjective well-being risks becoming polarised into false dichotomies centred on whether economic measures of well-being are relevant or irrelevant, useful or useless, important or trivial and even good or bad.

The various parties in the debate recognise that well-being includes but goes beyond economic dimensions, so it is counterproductive to frame the issue as an adversarial contest between economic and non-economic variables. In any case, proponents of subjective well-being measures are not saying these measures should replace economic ones; only that they should be taken into account in addition to economic measures.

To shed light, not generate more heat, in the debate, it is important to have clear definitions of concepts; know what the research evidence shows; and understand better what proponents of subjective well-being are saying (and not saying), so that we can learn how to move forward with practical applications for Singapore.

Interim rental housing

MPs say rental scheme highlights new segment in need

By Daryl Chin & Shuli Sudderuddin, The Straits Times, 27 Oct 2011

FOR the past 21/2 years, administration assistant Peter Suppiah and his family have called a three-room Housing Board (HDB) flat in Toa Payoh home.

The 57-year-old downsized to an interim rental unit because of financial difficulties. In most cases under interim-housing rules, a family must share the flat with another family.

For the past three months, the co-residents had been another family of six who have just moved out. The space crunch meant that Mr Suppiah and his wife slept on a mattress in the living room while his three children and elderly mother shared a bedroom.

The sole breadwinner pays a monthly rent of $380, which takes up a chunk of his salary of less than $1,500.

He cannot apply for a public rental flat until 30 months have elapsed after the sale of his Admiralty flat.

Interim housing was a talking point in Parliament last week and some observers said the discussions point to a growing segment of people, like Mr Suppiah, whose housing needs should be addressed.

Interim rental housing (IRH) was started in 2009 as a temporary shelter to assist families in hardship and facing a transition in their housing arrangement.

About 800 flats, mostly three-room units in places such as Toa Payoh, Bedok and Taman Ho Swee, are in the IRH scheme.

IRH tenants include households in the public rental-flat queue but in urgent need of accommodation, and those in financial hardship while waiting to move to smaller flats that are being built.