SINGAPORE: Labour chief Chan Chun Sing said on Thursday (Apr 19) that the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) will set up a new Training Council which will focus on training workers to tackle future disruptions.
“We are not satisfied just to help today’s unemployed just to get a new job. Most importantly, we set ourselves a high goal to help tomorrow’s unemployed into tomorrow’s job ahead of time,” Mr Chan told reporters during a briefing to the media on his May Day message.
“That will require us to identify the industries with the Government and the private sector … (and) to work closely with the training agencies to make sure we upskill our workers ahead of time,” he added.
To do that, the Training Council will take charge of curating and delivering training and certification through cooperation with Institutes of Higher Learning, professional associations and companies.
The council will be made up of NTUC central committee members, tripartite partners and key leaders in the training industry who will meet once every three months to discuss training needs across the 23 industries under the Industry Transformation Programme.
For example, the council will work with training partners to identify the training needs and challenges of the manufacturing sector – such as the shift-work nature of the industry – and come up with a suitable training plan for workers in this sector.
AdvertisementAdvertisementNTUC will then step in to create training maps, communicate the training needs to workers and mobilise workers for training.
Learning materials will be “bite-sized” and “just-in-time” so that workers can “learn something any day and any time” which can be as simple as reading an article for five to 10 minutes while commuting, he said.
NTUC TO TRANSLATE ITMs INTO TANGIBLE OUTCOMES FOR WORKERS
While Singapore's economic performance last year was “better than expected”, Mr Chan said growth across sectors was not uniform.
So, the labour movement will continue to work with its network of unions to translate Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) into better jobs and a brighter future for workers.
To provide workers with greater access to upskilling and placement opportunities, NTUC has partnered unions and U Associates, which represents professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).
“Increasingly you also see that we are clustering the unions and U Associates together in groups to represent the workers in the industries. It allows us a more integrated platform to talk about training and development,” he said.
He gave the example of the healthcare sector.
“Regardless of whether they are from unions or U Associates, we are able to bring them together to discuss the common challenges that they face in the industry at the same time to leverage on each other’s strength for the progression planning, for skills upgrading and training,” Mr Chan added.
“Moving ahead, we will continue to work with our tripartite partners to translate ITMs into tangible outcomes so that our working people can have better jobs and a brighter future,” Mr Chan added.
NTUC's REPORT CARD
Mr Chan also presented a report card on what NTUC had done for workers in the past year.
An update to its constitution meant that it is now able to serve all working people including freelancers, migrant workers as well as PMETs.
Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) workers are also better protected under the U SME initiative, while freelancers and self-employed communities (FSE) come under the U FSE initiative.
The Migrant Workers’ Centre and Centre for Domestic Employees have also expanded their service offerings to include convenient remittance and electronic payment of salaries through partnerships with local banks, Mr Chan said.
Besides protecting the employment and legal rights of workers, NTUC’s unions have stepped up efforts to help displaced workers find employment as well as facilitate upskilling and career progression, he said.
“The UA community has grown, enabling professionals, managers and executives to access industry expertise in sunrise industries such as Fintech and sustainable energy, and widen their professional network locally and globally,” Mr Chan said.
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