May Day Rally 2026: Labour Movement commits to standing by every worker in the AI era

The Labour Movement gathered on 1 May 2026 for the annual May Day Rally at D’Marquee in Downtown East.

More than 1,600 union leaders, tripartite partners and guests attended the event. The rally was hosted by NTUC President K Thanaletchimi and Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng, together with members of the NTUC Central Committee.

Guest-of-Honour Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong graced this year’s event, delivering the keynote address.

Click here for Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s speech.

In his address, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong warned of a worsening global outlook driven by the Middle East conflict and rising stagflation risks, while stressing that Singapore’s tripartite approach and energy resilience put it in a strong position to weather the storm.

On AI, he pledged that the Government’s commitment was to protect every worker even as jobs change, announcing the merger of SkillsFuture Singapore and Workforce Singapore into a new Skills and Workforce Development Agency, and endorsing the formation of the Tripartite Jobs Council.

Click here for Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng's speech.

In his opening remarks, NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng celebrated the Labour Movement’s progress – with membership at 1.4 million and more than 3,800 Company Training Committees (CTC) benefiting over 300,000 workers – before speaking candidly about the challenges of AI disruption, a super-ageing society, and geopolitical fragmentation.

Click here for the Labour Movement Annual 2026 report.

He outlined three Cs to guide the Labour Movement’s response – Commitment, Capabilities and Collective Action – anchored by a fourth: Care.

He announced that the Labour Movement will commit $37 million in 2026 to practical support for workers and their families and launched the NTUC Community Fund with a goal of raising $500 million over five years.

Highlighted at this year’s Rally was the formation of the Tripartite Jobs Council (TJC), bringing together the Government, employers and the Labour Movement under one roof to scale support for workers navigating the AI transition.

The Council will focus on three areas: building AI-ready workers, enabling better businesses and better jobs, and improving job matching.

It will build on existing capabilities – including NTUC LearningHub’s AI training pathways, NTUC e2i’s AI-powered career coaching, and the CTC Grant – while expanding outreach and quickening the pace of implementation.

Mr Ng also announced that union members will receive funding support for AI tool subscriptions, enabling them to experiment with and apply AI confidently at work.