Debate on Annual Budget Statement

Mr Deputy Speaker, I will be speaking as a union leader and a workers' representative.

First, let me begin by stating that I welcome the Budget as it supports businesses and workers to adapt and grow in a post-COVID-19 world. I am especially heartened by the additional wage support through the extension of Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) to support our workers in the hard-hit sectors. I would like to also express their hope that the JSS will be extended further should the situation not improve.

I would like to touch on three topics, namely: Strengthening Singaporean Core; Workforce transformation through training; and expanding the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) to other sectors, beyond those sectors where there are a higher proportion of low-wage workers.

Singapore's only natural resource is our people, and safeguarding jobs for Singaporeans must continue to be our key focus. I am encouraged by the various measures in the past and current Budgets to strengthen the Singaporean Core.

While we keep our economy open and have foreign workers to augment our local workforce, we must create more employment opportunities for our locals and continue to strengthen our Singaporean Core at both the sectoral and company levels. I would like to share some good examples.

In my engagements with fellow union leaders from NTUC's Oil, Petrochemical, Energy and Chemicals cluster, we do have a strong Singaporean Core in the sector's unionised companies, with a 70% local workforce. The local and foreign talent complement has also resulted in high reliability standards that the sector is known for. In specifically the power sector, we have a stronger Singaporean Core with a local workforce of more than 90%. In Singapore Power (SP) Group, where I am working, there is a local workforce of more than 95%.

The employment practices in this sector to build the Singaporean Core can be a learning model for other companies to emulate. Here, I would like to call on all employers to make the local workforce your employee of choice and ensure skills transfer to the local workers to moderate reliance on foreign labour.

Perhaps, our Government can consider putting in place policies or incentives to recognise companies who build a stronger Singaporean Core and develop their local workforce across all levels, through positive differentiation among companies who do not. There are many manpower policies that are at the disposal of MOM to achieve this intended outcome of developing a Singaporean Core.

My next topic is about workforce transformation through training.

Having a strong Singaporean Core includes ensuring that their skills remain relevant. This brings me to my second point which is about the importance of training has shifted from equipping workers with today’s skills to preparing the workers for the jobs of tomorrow. Unions are committed to work with employers to help our workers build their capabilities, upgrade their skills and transform by setting up Company Training Committees.

For instance, the Union of Power and Gas Employees where I have the privilege to be the General-Secretary, has collaborated with SP Group in their mission to develop future skills roadmap to enhance the employability of the workforce. Launched in 2018, Project Fusion, which stands for "Future Skills in Everyone", looks at how will current jobs change, what are the new jobs, what are the future skills, and how can our workers learn these future skills. It is a holistic approach to future-proof the workforce.

I urge employers to take the lead in the development of workers to meet the evolving needs of your industry by identifying relevant future skills and taking advantage of the economic downturn to train and transform your workers. NTUC can support by working with the companies to facilitate an Operation Technology Roadmap workshop to identify strategic technological changes and training needed to help the company transform.

Skills upgrading must go hand in hand with productivity improvement and career advancement to ensure sustainable wage increases. Workers who are performing higher value-added jobs should look forward to better wages, welfare and work prospects, in line with the productivity gains. This can be achieved through the PWM, which leads to my third topic for today.

PWM was launched in June 2012 to enable workers to achieve sustainable wage increases through the acquisition of better skills and higher productivity. While it has thus far been implemented in low-wage outsourced sectors, including cleaning, security and landscape, the PWM is applicable to all sectors and PME jobs as well.

In fact, many of the unionised companies in the Oil, Petrochemicals, Energy and Chemical industries have a structured career development plan for their employees that is mapped to skills and salary ladder. This is akin to the PWM's value proposition and has allowed many workers to achieve sustainable wage growth through upskilling and career progression.

I believe every responsible employer has a career development plan for their workers. Beyond having that career development plan reside in the individual company, I would like to echo NTUC’s aims to have PWM in more sectors and call for sectoral agencies to work with employers, unions and professional associations to implement the model, beyond the existing mandatory sectors.

The sectoral level PWM will allow workers to have the visibility of the career pathways and salary progression in tandem with the skill upgrading and productivity improvements. Workers will have sight of the career and salaries that the sector has to offer them as well as the required skills and training. This will provide a useful roadmap to attract fresh graduates, mid-career switchers, develop and retain locals in the sector.

During downturns, the visibility of the sectoral PWM’s skills will facilitate cross-function, cross-company and cross-sector mobility for workers from restructuring companies to companies that are hiring.

As shared, NTUC is in talks with the relevant stakeholders to develop a PWM for the Solar Energy Sector. With Singapore aiming to achieve almost five times the current solar usage by 2030 and together with the industry career development plan for Solar Technologists, a PWM for this sector would provide a clearer career development and wage progression plan as this sector develops a Singapore Core.

With all the above effort and examples, I hope to see more sectors come onboard and implement the PWM! Let me now say a few words in Malay.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The extension of the Jobs Support Scheme or JSS into the aviation, aerospace and tourism sectors is truly welcomed by the trade unions in those sectors. They also hope that it can be extended further if the economy remains sluggish.

In fact, they also hope that the Government constantly monitors this situation and continues to implement measures to reopen the sector with international partners, so that the industry can resume its activities.

On this note, the Labour Movement wished to express their appreciation to all companies that retain and support their workers through the Jobs Support Scheme. As far as possible, please avoid any retrenchment because when a worker loses his job, it will impact the whole family's finances, and not just the worker's.

Make use this time instead to send your workers for training to upgrade their skills and to identify new skills that you will need, so that your workers are better equipped for any new job in the future. Among the skills needed right now and in the future are the various technology-related skills such as digital skills, data analysis, artificial intelligence and so on. Employers need to identify the type of skills required from their employees when identifying the type of training required.

We always hear about workers having difficulty or refusing to undergo training. That is a misconception. Please do not blame the workers entirely on this issue of training. Actually, our hope is that such training will enhance our status as workers in order for us to have good careers, better welfare and a better working environment. In fact, we also hope that, after undergoing training, our salaries will increase in line with improvements in our productivity.

Besides training, the labour unions call on the Government to encourage employers to build a strong Singapore core in their workforce not just in terms of numbers, but also in term of skills and capabilities as well as competitiveness.

It will be even better if the Government can incentivise employers with a strong Singaporean core in their workforce.

Having a strong Singaporean core will encourage and motivate Singaporean core workers to upgrade their skills and compete hard to secure employment opportunities.

(In English): I would like to close my speech by making two key points. First, NTUC will continue to help workers of all collars, ages and nationalities achieve gainful employment through better jobs and a better living through higher wages, so that they can live a better life.

We call on the Government to continue formulating and implementing labour policies that aim to develop a globally competitive workforce and a great workplace, for a cohesive society and a secure economic future for all Singaporeans.

To our employers, who are tuning into this Budget debate, we hope that you will do your part to transform your business, enhance productivity and competitiveness and upskill your workers for future jobs. This is Singapore’s Tripartism Model!

Finally, this pandemic has been with us since early 2020 and there is still no sign it will go away anytime soon. As a union leader and on behalf of all my fellow sisters and brothers in the Labour Movement, I would like to take this opportunity to express our utmost appreciation to all my fellow essential service workers, be it in healthcare, cleaning, security, transport, telecommunication, nearer to my heart – power and gas, even water. Thank you, thank you very much for your unwavering commitment, dedication and resilience to serve our country and our people during this pandemic. Mr Deputy Speaker, I support this Budget. [Applause.]

Mr Deputy Speaker, thank you for allowing me to join the debate. In the coming Committee of Supply (COS), most of my cuts will be on social and family development issues, covering our social safety net, social service delivery, partnerships with community, building resilient families and also, how we can further make lives better for our women. So, I will not dwell on these here.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister’s Budget is a careful rendering of the bread and butter of our national life. It takes care of all the big moving parts – health, housing – and the big items – defence and education. Sir, last year, we blew all our savings that we took 10 years to accumulate in one large cushion. Imagine if I tell you now your last 10 years of your own savings or you had to use it all up in one year. It shows the magnitude. But the $100 billion that the Finance Minister used, was it well used?

As Deputy Prime Minister Heng said, and I quote him, "We averted the worst and prevented deep economic scarring and permanent impairment of our economic strengths."

We saved jobs, spent on healthcare and now we are making sure all of us are protected. This is the clear and visible, the immediate and vital policy goal.

But there many things that are invisible and they take generations to grow. Our sense of identity, what kinds of persons we are and how we relate to each other. Increasingly, this is not just a matter of real life interaction, but also a matter of online culture – how we speak and write to each other when we cannot see each other face to face, when we think of the "other side", not as a human being with feelings, a sense of dignity and to whom we owe duties, but as faceless digits.

It is then that we feel free to insult, to complain, to load with vulgarities, expletives and crass innuendos.

Sir, the digital world is now an empire, far reaching and powerful. To live the good life there, we need to develop a good online culture.

A debate on the Budget may seem like an odd place to speak about this because I am speaking of things that money cannot buy – grace, civility, integrity and simple good manners. These are things that we cannot tax into oblivion or incentivise into existence. But together, they form the culture of our public life and we can only cultivate these by mutual agreement and collective effort. Increasingly, this means paying more attention to the way we live online.

For many of us, using cash has become a rare occurrence, as we move more and more to tap our cards, or to scan with our phones. But online payments require not just a smartphone but also reliable wifi or broadband – bare essentials to some, but expensive for others. We need to do more to make these available to the lower income. In an increasingly digital world, these must not be seen as luxuries but as basic transport into a life of dignity and ease. Providing the basics of a digital life is as much a public duty as it is providing national defence and education.

In one of my cuts to MCI later on in COS, I will speak about the trend of rising online scams. We have already put in place a few piece of key legislation in terms of disinformation and falsehoods. One missing piece I think in our policy to protect Singaporeans against scams and to grow their digital literacy is to identify who among us is vulnerable.

Can the Government put together a simple online literacy assessment, or give guidance on a specific set of information that all of us should know so that we can see where our weak spots are? This is a simple "scan", like the way we would scan our computers, so see where our weak spots are, or a health check-up so we can see if our cholesterol or blood pressure is too high.

I think MCI would be best placed to see this through and provide different scans to different age groups.

MOE is already providing the necessary hardware for all students to learn. In the pandemic that we are going through, the move to online learning and the use of technology has been very quick and much faster than originally planned. Today, low-income families can already apply for subsidised computers and free broadband through the IMDA's NEU PC Plus programme.

But "owning a PC" is not enough. We need to make sure that families have devices that are functioning at a high enough standard for good online learning. More important, children from lower income homes are struck much harder. Research on a representative sample of Singaporeans has shown that 44% families who lived in rental units, they did not have a connection, and another 44% lacked a computer or a laptop at home.

And which is why when my hat as the Group CEO of NTUC Enterprise, at our NTUC First Campus, just two months ago, we launched a scheme to loan iPads to more than 2,000 low-income families and their children attending our My First Skool centres to help them bridge this digital divide. I hope more can be done on this front by Government.

I think it may be worth looking at this more closely. So, of all the families who are living in rental flats with school-going children, how many do not have a PC, and how many do not have broadband connections?

But hardware is only half the story. Since 2014, the Home Access programme has provided many low-income households with subsidised broadband and cheaper devices. Today, there are hundreds of families who have access to free broadband. I think this is a very useful and helpful scheme that can be greatly expanded. So I urge the Government to consider giving all low-income households, especially those with school-going children, free broadband connections. I think this will be a great equaliser.

The above are some things that money can buy. Now, I want come to things that money cannot buy.

First, I call attention to the rising culture of negativity in the way we relate to each other online. We have had, for many years, ambitions towards a kinder, a more caring and inclusive society. While there has been good progress, there is much scope for further improvement.

So, first, I suggest we turn our good intentions into action. Deputy Prime Minister Heng has announced that a $20 million fund will be set aside to match the Community Chest (ComChest) donations raised through spontaneous acts daily. The is under the new Change for Charity Grant that he announced.

Corporations and public alike should give it full support to make it work and to bring cheer to the disadvantaged in our midst. Hopefully, this could become a regular feature and part of the Singapore way of life in future. Again, wearing my NTUC Enterprise hat, we are already doing some of this but I have asked my colleagues to see how we can participate and support this programme in a stronger way.

Last, something simple. Can we ourselves to be more considerate before we demand others to be so? Can we cut everyone some "slack" especially when they get it right most of the time? Can we be less entitled?

Let me give you an example. SIRS, as you know, is a COVID-19 assistance programme which provided self-employed people with three quarterly cash payouts of $3,000 each in May, July and October and it is opened to those who earned a net trade income of up to $100,000 and live in a property with an annual value of no more than $21,000. I had a resident staying in a nice $6 million house, that is my estimate of the worth of the house. She complained and demanded to know why she was unable to get the SIRS payout.

A second example. Another resident of mine who, without fail, will, on a regular basis, send me photographs of how a particular staircase in his block would be littered with tissue paper here and there. Fortunately, for both him and me, this problem has been solved.

Sir, having spoken out against complaining, I must say that I am not now complaining, but there are examples of where I feel we can improve in our public life, to reduce this culture of negativity.

This culture is leading to a certain type of online persona, where cynicism, anti-establishment, is a shorthand for intellectualism and political sophistication. In this trend, general negativity towards all things Singaporean is taken as proxy for moral courage, especially when it includes a dose of disdain and disrespect for public institutions.

This is a poor reflection on us, at a time where we have done so much that we can be proud of.

So, what can we do? First, we need to recognise that being a nation of champion complainers is not all there is to being Singaporeans. This indeed, is a part of us. We cannot help it, and taken in moderation, complaints are a vital part of public life. We must notice mistakes, we must raise our voices and we must hold each other to the highest standards. I do not want to be a Pollyanna about our political landscape. There is indeed much to improve on. But I ask today for us to consider whether we have gone too far in the other direction, to feel every pin prick as a broken bone, to raise our voices and abuse our fellow countrymen, especially those in the public services and in the frontline, as if they are in our debt.

Building a culture of unity and a strong sense of identity has always been a challenge in Singapore, a country that is too small to count on its own domestic market, but an ambition too large to be denied, too diverse to take our nationhood for granted but united enough to agree, over 50 years, on things which have torn many other countries apart – race, religion, language, politics.

Before I end, I want to highlight my strong support and thanks to Government for the continued enhancements and incentive schemes for organisations to build and to strengthen their local core and the strong support for mature workers, as what my colleague Senior Minister of State Mr Heng Chee How has just talked about.

Wearing my NTUC Enterprise hat, this is close to our hearts. We are proud that we have a very strong local core at all levels – management as well as rank and file. And look at the demographics of our workforce at our largest social enterprise, NTUC Fairprice, our mature workforce speaks of our value system and we see it as a strength: 66% of our staff, that is about two-thirds, are more than 40 years old; 46% are more than 50 years old and 22% more than 60 years old. And we have quite a few who are over 70 years old. These statistics all outperform the national workforce demographics. Yes, the more senior in age staff, they may be a tad slower, less physically agile but they make up for it with their patience, their dedication, their competence and their reliability. All said, every worker, young and old, every worker matters.

As a country, we must welcome diversity. We must look out for each other and always make sure we bring people along in our transformation journeys and leave no one behind and most importantly, we must accord respect to all.

These threats towards fragmentation and polarisation have become ever more important, as the reach of the digital empire grows. To combat the dark sides of this empire, we must recall what we owe each other, an obligation and a duty to respect each other. We must recognise the role each of us play in our public life and join together in this journey with maturity and common purpose.

For my fellow Labour Members of Parliament and the many union leaders, like Nominated Member of Parliament Abdul Samad, and many other Industrial Relations Officers working hard on the ground, NTUC led by our Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng, will continue to walk the talk, will continue to push for workers' interests, always striving to do better with our actions amidst the complaints. Sir, I support the Budget. [Applause.]

Mr Deputy Speaker, 2021 is a very exciting year for me and many fellow women, as this has been earmarked as a year for Celebrating Singaporean Women. Indeed, there is much to celebrate! Our sisterhood in the union is stronger than they have ever been, with our sisters being represented in leadership positions in every single union, and indeed, even in Parliament, the female voice is strong. Out of the 93 seats for elected Members of Parliament, 29% of the elected seats belong to women, compared to just four seats two decades ago.

As I look upon the women in my life, whether it is my mother and sister who are always there for me, the ladies in the taxi unions who would make passionate points about the need for self-care; the young ladies at my Edusave Awards who would beam at me with such pride when I tell them to shine bright for other little girls; the women in my constituency who comes to me with tired eyes because of their relentless care-giving duties. I cannot help but think that there are miles to go before we sleep, that there are miles to go before we sleep.

Indeed, while we live in a contemporary society that promotes equal opportunities in school and proactively creates level playing fields at work for both men and women, the work must continue to hum along to allow women to: one, reimagine their career and livelihood pathways; two, protect women when their decisions impact their livelihoods; and three, to ignite women to fully achieve their potential as they reach for the stars and beyond.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, perhaps it is because I am a female Member of Parliament and a Labour Member of Parliament at that, that I have been meeting with many women who have come up to me with their dreams and their aspirations of being able to contribute to their family and, at the same time, to be part of Singapore's economic recovery. Even as we weather the storms of crisis, where households incomes have taken a hit, women have once again risen to the occasion.

In World War II, as men were called to the frontlines, women held the fort by stepping up to the plate at home, in industry, in healthcare, to carry families and nations through, in times of great crisis. Today, it is no different. Our women warriors are gritting their teeth and putting on their battle gear as they enter, or re-enter the workforce, take on multiple jobs, or keep at it with their unwavering work ethic to maintain their family's livelihoods, while keeping the nation's economy vibrant and diverse.

COVID-19 blew into existence, a strong and wicked storm that devastated many livelihoods and brought many to their knees. This same storm also brought with it, strong tailwinds that created the opportunity for reimagining the impossible.

For decades, companies had struggled with the notions of flexible work arrangements vis-a-vis company productivity and bottom line. With COVID-19, overnight, most companies had to deep dive into work from home arrangements and many companies are now considering making this the default in their new normal.

Indeed, the same forces which kept our women workers out of the workforce – long working hours, long work commutes – are now being resolved, and there is now a wonderful open opportunity for a different narrative on redesigning jobs for a more inclusive workplace, not only just for women, but also for workers who need flexible work arrangements such as PWDs, seniors and well, people who just prefer such progressive work cultures.

Indeed, we must make use of this opportunity to continue to let women reimagine their many possible livelihood options. Women can be anything they choose or desire to be: a career in STEM, a professional crane operator, a plumber, a harbour pilot! Our career choices are limited only by the imagination, and the union will work with our Labour Movement companies and associations to redesign and reimagine jobs.

In turn too, I hope that the Government would be able to place more resources to encourage companies to have a relook into their work processes and to support companies through their job redesign strategies.

Every woman warrior needs to be equipped with armour so that they can go the distance. I recently met with our female union leaders of our taxi driving sisterhood and they made a very passionate point about how the recent petrol duties hike would impact their livelihoods in adverse ways. The petrol duties increase effectively means that for our drivers, they pay another 10 cents per litre of petrol that they need for their livelihoods. While the urgent need to go green for national security is definitely something that is not lost on our sisters, this 10 cents per litre, means that they would need to spend more long gruelling hours driving their taxis, this made all the more challenging with street hails at a low due to the dearth of tourism and night spots remaining closed. This impacts the careful balance between their caregiving duties at home, self-care for their mental wellness and the time spent on their livelihoods.

Indeed, it might be worth noting that many of our female cabbies are single parents and thereby just makes the balance even more challenging.

The community appreciates the six-month $3,150 COVID Drivers Relief Fund (CDRF) and is heartened by the close tripartite relationship that brought along the expedited disbursement of the tax and additional petrol duty rebates. But our community is still worried that the COVID-19 situation will stretch beyond six months and would like to know what would happen once the support ends.

True to the protective gear that the union would provide for all our workers, our unions would take the feedback and work with our tripartite partners – LTA, the taxi, private hire platforms, taxi platform in coming up with further support to ease the transition into the higher duties and also other COVID-19 related difficulties.

I met with a rather distraught constituent who was very stressed about managing her care-giving responsibilities at home. Her husband suffers from OCD. She has three young ones and her youngest one has special needs. After speaking with me at length about her issues, she actually heaved a sigh of relief and said that she would now go over to the nearby KFC. She explained that once a week, she goes to KFC for 45 minutes for a coffee break. She spends this time all by herself and she will watch a quick episode of a Korean drama, which, incidentally is also 45 minutes. I was intrigued and I spoke with my friend, who is a clinician about this. She smiled and brought up that, indeed, studies have shown that women need 40 to 45 minutes a week for themselves to recharge before going back to the marathon of life’s responsibilities.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, considering how many hours are in a day, all this woman needed was a fraction of it, for herself to rest – 45 minutes, an episode of a K-drama, a meal, a nap. If we see our pots boiling over on the stove, do we not remove the lid a little to remove the pressure? As we recognise the pressures faced by our women warriors, I put forth that there might be a need to provide support for respite care that might alleviate the burdens of our women workers. An in-community registry of professional care-givers, who could help with eldercare, childcare, and even cleaning services could be made publicly available for women to access short-term care in community easily.

An important figure in this whole eco-system to support the movement of Singaporean women returning to work are actually our foreign domestic workers (FDWs). Many women workers I know have shared with me that they see their helpers as an extension of their own families, and form close ties with these "aunties" who help look after the elderly and young in the family as if they were their own relatives.

Although it is regretful that recent spotlights have been cast on negative practices between employers and their FDWs, I believe that the general undercurrent is optimistic. Together with the NTUC’s Centre for Domestic Employees, my team over at the Women and Family Unit conducts a monthly advisory and legal clinic for employers and FDWs. I was delighted to observe that the vast majority of people who came to our clinics were here to ask for pro tips on how to best relate to the people who were living with under the same roof.

I believe that with mutual respect, understanding and awareness of each other’s needs and boundaries, FDWs and their employers in Singapore, can be good model examples of exemplary employer-employee relations. Over the next few months, the unions hope that with the support of the Government, we will be able to promote more wide spread awareness to better employment practices and understanding the expectations and aspirations of our women employers and their hired help.

However, although respite care options are available, they might not be affordable for certain families that already carry the burden of expensive medical bills and daily expenses. Thus, it presents itself as necessary for there to be additional subsidies to help primary care-givers relieve the financial burden of seeking assistance.

As we support women with their responsibilities at home and eagerly beckon them into the promised land of the workforce – work must be done to ensure that the land of opportunity does not turn into the land of the opportunistic. Workplace harassment spares no gender, but women undoubtedly bear the disproportionate portion of such incidences. Plenty of women go to work every day, looking forward to maintain a livelihood, support their families and fulfil their career aspirations – yet are forced by "necessity" and "conventional wisdom" to occasionally look over their shoulders in case of practices, actions or even speech that threaten to muddy the professionalism of their workplaces.

However, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must enquire whether these narratives of "conventional wisdom" that suggest harassment is a mainstay to be expected, the default way of things, should still stand. Surely, I do not think this is how things are meant to be. Coveted honours of being a "great place to work" must always play second fiddle to the bare necessities of a "safe place to work". And this is the assurance our workforce needs. Indeed, a safe place to work also extends to good fair hiring practices, good work-life harmony and progressive retention and employee development policies. Mr Deputy Speaker, in Mandarin, please.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Amidst the hustle and bustle in Singapore, is a 40-minute break considered long or short? At a Meet-the-People Session, I met an angry middle-aged woman. Honestly speaking, her aggressive and angry look was very intimidating indeed. We spoke for a while, gradually her anger subsided and turned into a stream of endless grievances and helplessness. To a woman in her 30s, troubled by endless family problems such as annoying children, no income, no food for the next meal and so on, a 40-minute break has unknowingly turned into a kind of luxury, a desire and an out-of-reach oasis.

We must provide care-givers with respite service as soon as possible. Respite service is a short-term service provided with the aim of alleviating the burden of care-givers. We must raise people's awareness, build an inclusive and empathetic society together, and reduce the worries of care-givers.

(In English): Mr Deputy Speaker, in English please. Looking at the world through the lens of our women, their dreams, aspirations, grievances, and indeed, their humanity, has led me to dream up the possibilities created by having a Singapore Centre for Working Women. Imagine, a single resource centre for women, covering everything I have spoken about in the past 15 minutes and more, where women can come to explore new livelihood options, air grievances, seek mentorship, access best practices, apply for support, seek redress, form alliances and of course, to assist and guide along other women.

It is my hope for our women warriors to have a safe space to be themselves amidst other women warriors – a place where women can be unabashedly themselves, unashamed to seek help. And in these connections, be empowered to be the best versions of themselves. It is by capturing the diversity of the concerns and aspirations of our women warriors that we may best release their potential. Sisters, every worker matters. The Labour Movement will be here to walk with you on your journey, protect you, and help you reach for the stars. I support the Budget. [Applause.]

Mr Deputy Speaker, thank you for allowing me to join the Debate. The world is still mired in COVID cases and lockdowns. We are now seeing shoots of growth in key economies as vaccination efforts continue to expand. While the worst of the pandemic has seemingly been averted, future recovery is far from certain. It must not be lost on us as we conduct the debate that we had narrowly averted a much deeper recession and that the next cliff can be just the next cluster away.

While we need to deal with the current pandemic and recession, problems that come with it, it is equally important to plan for the nation’s future in a post-pandemic world. We must tackle structural changes such as accelerated digitalisation, the new normal of remote working and reconfiguration of supply chains. These are existential challenges. We must retool, reskill. We must transform.

First of all, we must continue to support Singaporeans through difficult times by enhancing and shoring up local hiring demand. Protecting the Singaporean Core is a key priority for both the Government and the labour movement. Our labour market has shown a marked improvement. Resident employment has, in fact, returned to pre-pandemic level at end of 2020. This is the result of the Government’s initiatives in protecting the Singaporean Core, and the sacrifices of workers and companies.

The Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) has seen extremely promising results – with more than 110,000 local hires last year. This is clearly an important measure in shoring up local hiring. I fully support the extension of the JGI. While some companies have progressively started to hire, many are still hesitant. The JGI extension helps to bridge this hiring gap.

I also suggest that the Government can consider enhancing JGI for our workers above the age of 62 through added subsidies. These workers are more prone to cyclical and structural changes. Furthermore, they are likely not to be re-employed as companies reduce costs. This will help companies to hire older workers even during uncertain economic times.

Next, the Job Support Scheme, or JSS, is one massive life jacket. It kept businesses afloat and workers in their jobs. Some industries have since stabilised, others have grown. The Labour Movement supports the extension of the JSS to companies and workers in sectors that are still hard-hit. The unions and workers in the aviation, aerospace and hospitality sectors register their appreciation. With the global border restrictions, these sectors will need longer recovery timelines as they reconfigure their business models. These sectors need workers and companies to be ready to capture rebound opportunities when the world is eventually opened for business.

Next, we need to provide additional assistance to our younger Singaporeans to adapt to the new economy. The pandemic has accelerated the growth and demise of many industries, jobs and skillsets. But many younger Singaporeans could now find themselves on the wrong side of the growth curve and are unable to take advantage of the new growth opportunities in fast-growing industries. To do so, I have three suggestions to make.

Some studies have suggested that students graduating in recession years earn less than their peers graduating in non-recession years, and the effects persist for a few years.  For some younger Singaporeans, they need to pivot to other sectors that are growing. I suggest that we can help to provide subsidies and loans for their second diplomas, or degrees. Not only would this improve the economy structurally, but this would also complement the lifelong learning attitude we wish to instil in all Singaporeans.

Second, I support the Government's move to extend the SGUnited Traineeships until 31 March 2022. In the annual Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey, SGUnited Traineeships made up 16.9% of graduates who found employment. This shows the importance of the programme in helping our graduates get skills and opportunities even during the pandemic. Could the Ministry consider the provision of incentives to encourage and support host companies to convert these trainees to full-time hires? This will help companies hire these graduates ahead of time.

Third, we must enhance the mental well-being support for our workforce. The economic outlook has understandably caused much stress across the workforce, especially that of our younger Singaporeans still hunting for full-time jobs. To better support the mental well-being of our youths, could the Ministry consider training youth care ambassadors equipped with the requisite adjunct support skills to help fellow peers? The labour movement, especially that of the Young NTUC, will work towards extending our support for the Government's initiatives in providing peers with emotional and employment support.

Mr Deputy Speaker, my last point relates to supporting the gig economy. The key attraction of the gig economy is in its flexibility. It gives workers the autonomy to choose when, where and how they want to work. As of 2019, there were about 200,000 residents who did freelance work as a regular form of employment. With the creation of new business models, this segment of the workforce is expected to grow. It is already an important and permanent part of our workforce. And the measures must recognise that and support that growth.

The pandemic has unearthed structural problems within the current state of protection for the platform workers. SIRS was instrumental in supporting these workers during the crisis. Going forward, it is timely for us to review the regulatory framework to protect these workers. This is especially important as workers dependent on large platform companies or organisations as their primary source of income.

There are three salient issues to be tackled: platform workers are unprotected by key employment legislation, there is insufficient social protection and the lack of incentives to upgrade this segment of the workforce.

First, the lack of protection for platform workers under the Employment Act and the Industrial Relations Act has provided significant power to platform companies relative to the workers. This has left platform workers on the shorter end of the stick without statutory recourse such as medical benefits. This is understandable as the Employment Act and the Industrial Relations Act are premised on an employer-employee relationship. And platform workers are not employees. Yet, most of these workers are lowly-skilled and wholly dependent upon the platform companies for their livelihood. The lopsided bargaining powers also means that companies can unilaterally change the terms of their service and incentive structures. Moreover, as workers are classified as independent contractors, they lack the ability to collectively bargain and negotiate wages or change working conditions with these companies.

The Labour Movement's recent formation of the National Delivery Champions Association is a positive step forward. But their hands might be tied by legal restrictions on collective representation for service or employment terms. I believe that more can be done to level the playing field between workers and platform companies to ensure that parties are treated fairly. I suggest that we can consider either allowing the Union to represent these workers collectively or to provide these workers with some level of statutory protection under this Employment Act.

Next, on the lack of social protection for platform workers. The crisis and rapid growth of e-commerce have provided a livelihood for workers performing work for platform companies. This is seen in the food or goods delivery, especially during the circuit breaker. Yet, this can be a problem in the long run. Because there are no CPF contributions from both employers and employees, the state will have to shoulder social support eventually. There is a pressing need to review the social protection of these workers if we want this sector to thrive.

Ideally, platform companies should voluntarily commit to the protection of their workers' social security. On the other hand, if there are such contributions, this might reduce the take-home pay for such workers. The current nature of regulation towards these companies is rather light touch. As with many other countries, many platform companies enjoy employer-type of powers without similar and few responsibilities. There can be more room for companies to commit to the protection of our workers, without curtailing the industry's viability. In this vein, can consider looking into subsidies and or disincentives to further encourage platform companies to commit to the longer-term social protection of our workers?

Lastly, because these workers are considered independent contractors, there are no incentives from companies to train them. Yet, there are long term impact on Singapore's workforce productivity. To ensure that these workers can thrive as an essential part of the workforce, workers must work continually upskill for greater employment security. Can the Government look into cost-sharing schemes with platform companies to encourage training support for these workers?

There are difficult trade-offs in developing the gig economy, especially for the gig workers. This is a big piece of work that the country has to work on and the Labour Movement stands ready to support the Government's initiatives to better protect gig workers to ensure the development of the gig economy as a permanent fixture of our workforce.

Mr Deputy Speaker, the Labour Members of Parliament before me have spoken at length on behalf of our workers. We have advocated for the greater protection and empowerment of vulnerable groups including lower wage Workers, Professionals, Managers and Executives, Self-Employed Persons, and mature workers. We recognise that many of these challenges, the cyclical ones are still before us and we also deeply recognise that many of the challenges, the structural ones are existential threats to Singapore if we do not manage them carefully. It will take strong tripartism to tackle them. Therefore, we must work even closer to re-tool, reskill and transform.

We will and must continue to work with the Government as partners to support workers through job re-design, training and workplace support. Our message is a simple one – "Protect Vulnerable Workers, Protect Jobs". The Labour Movement will continue to work closely with the Government and employers to do right by our workers.

Over the course of the five Budgets in 2020, according to MOF, $27.4 billion in grants were used to shore beleaguered companies; 155,000 jobs were saved or created. We shaved 1.7% from the rise in unemployment. I think that is putting workers at its core. I believe that similarly, this Budget reflects the People's Action Party's Government and NTUC's DNA that Every Worker Matters.

So, we must work together. Because tripartite partners have worked closely together and Singaporeans singularly united, did we avoid a deeper recession. So now, we must work together to emerge stronger from this crisis to ensure that workers continue to enjoy better wages, welfare, prospects in the years to come. Mr Deputy Speaker, I stand in support of the Budget. [Applause.]