December 29, 2009
Minister in Prime Minister Office and NTUC
Secretary-General Mr Lim Swee Say has jumped to claim credit for
Singapore’s economic “recovery” in a blatant attempt to justify his
own bloated salary.
As a minister without a portfolio, Mr Lim rakes in almost SGD$2
million dollars a year, more than 4 times the pay of U.S. President
Barack Obama.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mr Lim said:
“This year was the year of the defensive play – save jobs
and keep retrenchment down…….The year 2010 is going to be the year
of the offensive play. We are going all out to score goals, to
pursue higher economic growth, to pursue stronger job creation, to
lower the unemployment rate and at the same time, increase the
employment rate.”
Mr Lim described NTUC’s efforts this year as ‘less pain, more
gain’:
“Less pain for the worker, less pain for the companies, less
pain for the Singapore economy in a downturn and hopefully, more
gain for the workers, businesses, economy in an upturn.”
He boasted that NTUC has been “largely successful” in helping
both Singapore workers and businesses during the downturn and noted
that “Singapore was among only a handful of countries that can
boast a low unemployment rate (less pain) and a quick recovery from
the downturn (more gain).”
Singapore’s “low” unemployment figures may appear impressive to
outsiders, but it is hardly an accurate reflection of the reality
on the ground.
In the first place, the official figures from the Manpower
Ministry lumps both PRs and citizens under the same category –
“resident”.
The real unemployment rate among Singapore citizens may be
higher than the data released to the public.
Two groups of people are also left out from the calculation of
Singapore’s official employment rate: those who are attending
courses to upgrade their skills and workers who have stopped
hunting for jobs altogether.
The omission of these Singaporeans help skew the unemployment
figures, thereby not giving us a complete picture of what is really
happening.
More importantly, unemployment rate alone does not tell us how
Singaporeans are coping with the economic downturn.
A Singapore worker may be gainfully employed, but is he earning
a decent wage to support himself and his family.
Does he have to hold more than two jobs and work seven days a
week without any rest just to afford three basic meals a day?
As expected of its role as the “nation-building” press, the
Straits Times is quick to claim credit for NTUC:
“Much of the credit can be traced to pain-relief measures
rolled out this year, such as the Jobs Credit wage subsidy scheme
and the Spur subsidised training scheme which coaxed companies to
retain, not retrench, workers as well as to send them for
training.
The NTUC, on its part, urged companies to cut costs to save
jobs, and helped retrenched workers get back on their feet
quickly.”
It conveniently forgot to point out that though NTUC has urged
companies to restore the wage cuts and freezes imposed during the
economic downturn, many have yet to do so.
Singapore workers are at a losing end in an employer’s labor
market where they have little bargaining power to fight for higher
pay and better working conditions because they can be easily
replaced by a foreign “talent” from elsewhere.
There are no independent trade unions in Singapore to fight for
the rights and interests of its workers.
The largest legal trade union in Singapore is NTUC, a
pseudo-government organization which is always headed by a PAP
minister.
