Feature stories - NTUC

Together, We Can Upturn the Downturn
In his New Year message earlier this year, NTUC Secretary-
General Lim Swee Say outlined three core priorities for the
labour movement to help Singapore pull through the global crisis.
“Cut costs to save jobs – Be pro-active in working closely with the
management and government to improve productivity and reduce total
costs – wage and non-wage costs – as best as we can. More cost reduction
for our businesses would mean more jobs saved for our workers.”
“Up-skill and re-skill for new and different jobs – Our
challenge is to encourage workers to not just look for ‘same
job with same pay’. We need them to believe in themselves
and be willing to adapt to new job demands, so that we can
help them up-skill and re-skill to take on new and different jobs in different industries.”
“Stay the course to achieve our longer term objectives – We have
worked hard to increase the employment rate of women and older
workers through various tripartite efforts. We have also worked
hard to reduce unemployment and under-employment by re-creating
low-paying jobs, promoting best-sourcing of contract services,
and enhancing the employability of low-skilled workers. The pace of our efforts will be affected by the
short-term crisis due to excess manpower in a growing number of companies. We will spare no effort
in sustaining the momentum jointly with our tripartite partners. Together, we can upturn the downturn.”
This message from NTUC Secretary-General hit a cord with the Union of Security Employees
(USE). In response to his call, USE will be rolling out a slew of initiatives together with our industry
partners to upturn the downturn. These include the Security Industry Job Fairs; Security Job Recreation
Programme; Security Identification (ID) Card Project; SPUR Training; NTUC U Care
Fund Raising; Care and Share Vouchers and the inaugural USE Scholarship and Bursary Awards.
“T
he Union of Security Employees has worked with our tripartite
partners over the last few years to raise the standard of our industry
with better regulations to enhance the employability and productivity of
our officers. As a result, our industry is less affected by this downturn and
security services remain relevant and its demand remains strong. We’ll
continue to support the long-term initiatives, including the on-going Job
Re-creation Programme and Best Sourcing
security industry and workers now
Initiative to benefit our
and in the future.”
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