Having more foreign workers must not dilute
productivity efforts: Lim Swee Say
By S Ramesh | Posted: 29 July 2010 0011 hrs 
SINGAPORE: Labour chief Lim Swee Say has said that any
additional intake of foreign manpower should not dilute Singapore's
efforts in productivity improvement.
He was speaking at a conference of employers and trade union
leaders organised by the Singapore National Employers Federation
(SNEF) on Wednesday.
The conference discussed the recent news that Singapore would
likely need some 100,000 foreign workers to meet the demands of
various industries.
Mr Lim urged employers not to have pre-conceived ideas that
unionists are against foreign workers.
He said: "The labour movement adopts a fairly pragmatic approach.
If the growth opportunities are there and there is a shortage of
workers, then obviously the foreign workers do come in as
additional source of manpower.... (They) served as a buffer during
the downturn in 2009."
Mr Lim went on to say: "What we are concerned about is that this
additional intake of foreign manpower should not dilute our efforts
in productivity improvement.
"If we keep taking in foreign manpower, which are unskilled and
low-wage and bring them in big numbers, if we end up discouraging
enterprises from upgrading their workforce, I think that would be
not welcomed by the labour movement.
"What we would like to see is this movement towards higher
productivity should apply both to the local and foreign
workforce.
"Yes, we want the local workers to become better skilled, more
productive. At the same time we must place the same expectation and
demand on the foreign workers as well.
"So, as we take in foreign workers, let's bring in those who are
more employable, more trainable.
"Together these foreign and local workers can go through the
process of productivity improvement.....so that over the next 10
years we can achieve our target of 2-3 percent growth."
Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong, who was also at the conference,
said: "Exactly how many (foreign workers) will come will depend on
the growth of the second half. At the same time it is important for
companies to think about how we can do things in a different way so
that we can rely on fewer manpower to achieve the same
output.
"We hope companies will take this in their stride and see how we
can introduce productivity measures so that we can reduce our
dependence on low skilled manpower so that we can produce the same
or more with fewer resources needed.
"As the economy picks up, companies focus on fulfilling orders
immediately. While there is flexibility in the labour market to
allow you to do so, at the same time let's not lose sight of the
long term strategic move of raising productivity. Only then can we
sustain wage improvements."
- CNA/ir
