SINGAPORE: Mid-level white-collar workers - or professionals, managers and
executives (PMEs) - could soon get overtime pay for the extra hours they clock
at the office, as well as receive retrenchment and retirement benefits
currently enjoyed by their blue-collar counterparts, should changes to the
Employment Act proposed by the labour movement come to pass.
While the news would please PMEs
- who make up a third of the workforce here today, up from 27 per cent about a
decade ago - it met with swift resistance from the business community at a time
when companies are already looking nervously at their balance sheets.
Only hours after the National
Trades Union Congress (NTUC) held a media briefing on its proposals, the
Singapore National Employers Federation issued a press statement - in which
SNEF Executive Director Koh Juan Kiat cited concerns about "higher
in-employment costs, over-protection of benefits and more labour market
rigidities" - and indicated that it will release a "full statement"
next week, after consulting its members.
Noting that the proposals
"would further increase employment and compliance costs as foreign worker
policies are being tightened", the SNEF urged caution in precarious times.
"We should move cautiously ... We need to strike a balance between
adequate and over-protection," it said.
Speaking to TODAY, Association of
Small and Medium Enterprises President Chan Chong Beng criticised the timing of
the proposals. "A lot of costs are rising now, don't make SMEs more
nervous ... especially now, with a shortage of workers, this will be a double
blow to companies," he said.
Mr Chan added: "The effort
is good, but this is not a right time to do it. Multinational companies might
be able to comply, but SMEs may not when their profits have decreased. They
should let things settle down, see how the productivity drive goes in the next
two to three years."
NTUC Assistant Secretary-General
Cham Hui Fong, however, reiterated the necessity of the proposals.
The former Nominated Member of
Parliament said: "If we really want this Employment Act to be for
employees, a majority of them will have to be protected. And when we talk about
majority, it will have to be Singaporean workers, although the Act is
nationality-blind ... if we continue to just stay put at certain levels, at the
end of the day, a lot of our Work Permit holders … (and some) S-Pass holders
will be protected under the Act, but not our own Singaporeans."
Apart from more protection for
PMEs, NTUC also proposed changes including the mandatory provision of monthly
payslips and a minimum rest period between shifts for vulnerable groups of
workers such as low-wage and shift workers.
Blurring lines between blue and white-collar workers
The Employment Act was last
reviewed in 2008. In April, Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin announced
that it will be reviewed to accord greater protection for three groups of
workers - PMEs, contract and freelance workers and low-wage workers.
Currently, there are about
630,000 PMEs in the workforce. NTUC hopes the revised Act will cover at least
half - or more than 300,000 PMEs.
Among other things, it suggested
an increase to the S$2,000 salary cap for non-manual workers - or PMEs - who
are covered under Part IV of the Act, which legislates areas such as overtime
payment, working hours, eligibility for retrenchment and retirement benefits,
and annual leave.
Currently, this section of the
Act covers manual workers earning a basic salary of S$4,500 or less per month,
and non-manual workers earning a basic salary of S$2,000 or less per month.
On what the new cap should be for
non-manual workers, NTUC Director in Legal Services and PME Unit Patrick Tay
said he hoped that it would be "at least" at the 60th percentile of
monthly median salaries - a figure which is not made available publicly.
Based on the Ministry of
Manpower's wage report last year, the 50th percentile and 75th percentile of
basic monthly wages of managers were S$6,451 and S$9,830, respectively. For
professionals, the 50th percentile and 75th percentile of basic monthly wages
were S$4,380 and S$5,915, respectively.
Calling for more regular reviews
of the Act to keep pace with developments, Mr Tay, who is also a Member of
Parliament, estimates that amendments to the Act - following the latest review
- will be announced next year and implemented late next year at the earliest.
The labour movement's proposals
are the latest in a series of initiatives to enhance protection at the workplace
for PMEs.
Over the long term, NTUC hopes
that the distinction between manual and non-manual workers will be removed
under the Act, with equal protection for both types of workers.
Pointing out that the number of
PMEs entering the workforce will increase rapidly in the next "five to 10
years", Mr Tay said: "The lines are quite blurred with the changing
employment profile, landscape and nature of work … our proposal is that, in
time, there may not be a need for this kind of differentiation."
While a vast majority of PMEs are
currently not covered under the Employment Act, many companies have in place
adequate benefits for office workers - over and above what are stipulated in
the Act for blue-collar workers.
Still, JobsCentral Group Chief
Operating Officer Michelle Lim welcomed the "timely move". She added:
"Most PMEs are better educated and expected to be able to exercise good
judgment in protecting their employment interests. However, PMEs, like any
employees, also need protection from unfair or exploitative employment terms
and practices."
On the impact on companies, Ms
Lim pointed out: "It's those employers that are providing lesser terms
that will feel the impact the most."
Lauding the proposals, Ang Mo Kio
GRC MP Inderjit Singh felt that companies will have to "adjust" and
"learn to work under these new conditions". "If you look at it
in the long-term, if we can build employee loyalty like what we used to do in
the past and have happy and more productive employees, I think everyone
wins," he added.
Woo Sian Boon and Amir Hussain
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. Since we are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, you may contact us at: sbc.pte@gmail.com, provisionally. Many thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment