THE labour movement's top three priorities this year are to cut costs to save jobs, upgrade and retrain workers and sustain the momentum to achieve longer-term tripartite goals, labour chief Lim Swee Say said yesterday in an e-mail to all union leaders and NTUC (National Trades Union Congress) staff.
Outlining the labour movement's response to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's New Year message, Mr Lim, secretary-general of NTUC, said that the labour movement will 'stand in unity with the government and employers to protect jobs and create growth' in the difficult year ahead.
Cutting costs to save jobs is the top priority, Mr Lim said, noting that the world economy's decline has already hurt numerous businesses and workers.
Urging union leaders to 'be more pro-active in working closely with management and the government to improve productivity and reduce total costs', Mr Lim said that they 'need to be even more flexible and adaptable in 2009, because more cost reduction for our businesses will mean more jobs saved for our workers.'
The second priority, he said, is to 'up-skill and re-skill for new and different jobs'. Noting that 'global recession does not mean zero job creation', he highlighted sectors that still are employing, such as the Home Team, education, health care, marine, construction and public transport, and the new jobs, which will come with new hotels, shopping malls and the integrated resorts.
The labour movement's challenge, Mr Lim said, is to 'encourage workers to not just look for the same job with same pay', but 'be willing to adapt to new job demands'.
Acknowledging that longer-term efforts to 'reduce unemployment and under-employment' and 'enhance the employability of low-skilled workers' will inevitably be affected by the short-term economic crisis, Mr Lim said that such initiatives must not stall in 2009, and exhorted union leaders to 'stay the course to achieve our longer-term objectives'.
- The Business Times
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