SINGAPORE: Local low-wage workers now have a place to
turn to for assistance, thanks to the labour movement's first
service centre and toll-free hotline, which were set up on
Thursday.
It is part of the movement's ongoing push for increasing support
for the sector.
59-year-old Susie Lim is a cleaning supervisor.
She said she had difficulty finding someone who could answer all
her questions about things related to her job.
She can now turn to the newly-opened U Care
Centre.
Ms Lim said: "We can come here to ask about our salary,
bonus, and our annual or sick leave. We also can find out about
compensation, if our employer dismisses us from our jobs because of
our age."
The centre aims to provide low-wage workers with guidance on
work-related issues, like employment rights, fair contract terms
and statutory benefits.
Located at Jurong East, the centre is hosted within
NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) Career Services
Centre.
This is expected to allow it to better help workers with
job placements and skills upgrading programmes.
The move marks a transition from the previous centre, which was
set up in 2010, which catered to only contract and casual
workers.
The new U Care Centre will broaden this pool, to include
all low-wage workers who are Singapore citizens and permanent
residents, earning an average gross monthly income of S$1,900 and
below.
The idea for the centre was mooted during a series of focus
group discussions held by NTUC in August this year.
The discussions involved workers, service buyers, service
providers, grassroots and union leaders.
One of the issues raised included a lack of targeted assistance
for low-wage workers and uncertainty as to where they could go to
for help.
With the launch of U Care Centre, workers who meet the criteria
will be enrolled as U Care members when they walk in for
guidance.
At a fee of S$12 per year, workers may also opt to sign up as U
Care Value members for additional benefits.
These include being enrolled for basic group term life
insurance, which covers workers for total permanent disability and
death.
Other benefits include access to special discounts at selected
NTUC social enterprises and priority invitations to social events
organised for them and their families.
A new toll-free hotline was also launched for workers to
seek help over the phone.
NTUC said the centre will also provide a platform for it
to hear directly from low-wage workers.
This is through the formation of new U Care Communities for
various industries - where focus group discussions will be
conducted.
These include not just those from the cleaning, security and
landscape sectors, but also other sectors like the pest control and
carpark attendant industries.
NTUC said this will provide a more structured and targeted
approach.
Zainal Sapari, director of Unit for Contract & Casual
Workers at NTUC, said: "Previously when we engaged, the engagement
was more with the service provider, the service buyer, with our
tripartite partners and stakeholders.
“We do believe that low-wage workers need to feel
there's someone advocating for them, being a strong voice for them
to bring about a change. With this U Care Centre, we are providing
them with this support platform, where they can come to us,
individually even, to share some of their concerns, and we do hope
to see whether there are particular trends, particular things
happening on the ground, that can be addressed even at a national
level.”
There were close to 400,000 Singaporean low-wage workers last
year.
NTUC said it will study the demand before deciding whether to
open more of such centres across the island.
- CNA/fa/xq