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NTUC wants to improve working conditions of casual, contract workers
Channel NewsAsia - 1 hour 42 minutes ago
SINGAPORE : Singapore’s labour movement wants to improve the working status of its some 183,000 casual and contract workers.
NTUC said many of them do not even have proper CPF contributions — a key pillar in Singapore’s social safety net.
Madam Hoon is a typical casual and contract worker in Singapore — working on piecemeal jobs, and concerned if she will have a job the next day.
She said: "I am now a part—time promoter and I worry about the boss not calling promoters like us to promote their products. Maybe I will lose my job. I hope NTUC will provide more opportunities for people like me to get more jobs."
The number of such workers in Singapore has grown from about 80,000 from the days outsourcing began, to some 183,000 today. And the number does not include foreign workers.
NTUC said that regardless of whether a staff is a permanent or casual worker, it is important to look after their welfare.
Zainudin Nordin, director, Unit for Casual and Contract Workers, NTUC, said: "Some of them do not get CPF payments, they do not get medical leave, they do not have annual leave and they do not have a proper contract for their work. It is more like a verbal agreement. These are things that are worrisome.
"Sometimes, the situation would lead to the mismanagement of the staff. As a worker, whether casual or contract or permanent, they have to know their rights. So we are trying to increase this awareness by educating them and engaging them."
Government agencies must also ensure that regulations on employment are observed by companies.
But Mr Zainudin agrees that things are not going to be easy for these workers, especially during the current global economic downturn.
He said; "These vulnerable workers who are in the low—wage, low—skilled and lowly—educated (group) will be, in my view, one of the first few to be hit, and we are concerned about this...even though there is an economic downturn and global slowdown, the labour movement believes that employers can work closely with us to ensure that the workers should not be the first to go."
One way to help these workers is to send them for training under the lifelong learning and continuing education framework. — CNA/ms
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