Singapore—The Secretary-General of the Workers’ Party (WP), Pritam Singh, has called for rebates and reliefs for firms that provide upskilling for mid-career Singaporeans that have been affected by the present economic crisis.
Speaking on the Fortitude Budget on June 5 in Parliament, the WP leader acknowledged what Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat has been saying, that the country is in for tough economic times ahead, and that while the Government has provided financial assistance to both households and companies so far, Mr Heng had added that “government cannot carry businesses forever.”
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Mr Pritam noted that therefore, companies would soon have to underwrite the salaries of their workers. He said that the business people he has spoken to have endeavoured to keep their employees for as long as possible under the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), despite pay cuts and no-pay leaves.
However, with the end of the JSS, retrenchments are sure to follow, the WP chief said.
He added that the WP supports the Government’s efforts to upskill and digitalize, as this is vital for the country’s future, and underlined how important job training that adds additional skills to workers is.
Mr Pritam also called initiatives such as the new SGUnited Mid-Career Traineeships “an important source of hope for those Singaporeans who have lost their jobs or will lose their jobs.”
Therefore he expressed the hope that more incentives would be given to companies that provide training in new skills for mid-career Singaporeans.
“On mid-career workers, I hope the government incentivises more companies and businesses, through rebates or reliefs, to offer more of such traineeships and opportunities to mid-career Singaporeans to learn new skills and embark on new careers,” he said.
In his speech, Mr Pritam also commented on the perception from the public that the way the Government had handled the coronavirus crisis had “certainly not included adjectives more commonly associated with the Singapore Government – such as clarity and decisiveness.” He gave emphasis to how many Singaporeans had gotten confused with the reversals in announcements, some of which had been made in piecemeal fashion.
He said, “For example, there is a broadly accepted view that the public should have been told early and clearly, and not through illegal recordings behind closed doors for example, that universal masking would prove to be a challenge in view of supply constraints, requiring the Government to prioritize our healthcare and other essential workers. To this end, straight-talk – especially on Singapore’s limitations and shortcomings in managing the crisis – did not always define official government communication on COVID-19.”
For his third point, Mr Pritam called upon the Government to collaborate in a more effective fashion not only with NGOs but even with those who are critical of its policies.
“Moving forward Government should look at opening more avenues like Parliament for citizen engagement, greater data-sharing and empower other institutions like our think-tanks and the mainstream media to give alternate perspectives more voice and even provide platforms piloting change on a small scale. As we traverse the post-COVID-19 VUCA – volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous – world, we need to place more faith and promote even greater participation from Singaporeans than ever before,” he said. —/TISG
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