INTRODUCTION
Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the government in the 14th term of Parliament and tripartite partners for their strong support to the Labour Movement.
Because of our collective efforts, many workers, including PMEs, have seen real improvements in wages, welfare, and work prospects.
a. Amidst rising cost of living, we raised our lower-wage workers’ incomes.
b. Platform Workers now have CPF, work injury compensation, and the right to be represented by Platform Work Associations.
c. Workplace Fairness has also been strengthened so that all workers – especially our mature PMEs – are assured of a level playing field.
d. We provided new support for our involuntarily unemployed workers and supported our caregivers’ flexible work arrangement requests.
e. Senior workers now have a longer runway to work should they choose to do so too.
The Labour Movement also catalysed business and workforce transformation through more than 3,600 Company Training Committees (CTCs), promoting win-win outcomes for businesses and workers at the same time.
But beyond policies and numbers, what mattered most was the impact on ordinary people and workers.
Amidst the rising cost of living, every wage increase, every new protection, every training scheme made a real difference. Families and workers were able to be better provided for.
This is why I am in the House today, to ensure that every Singaporean worker and family can face the future with confidence.
LABOUR MOVEMENT’S CALL ON THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE NEW TERM
Sir, as we step into this new term of Parliament, Singapore faces significant external and internal challenges.
a. Externally, the world is more fractured. Trade wars, tech wars, and hot wars are redefining the rules-based order that Singapore has long depended on.
b. And technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) are reshaping how we live, learn, and work — faster than many of us can keep up.
c. Internally, the reality of becoming a super-aged society will hit us. More of our workers will be older, and more families will experience more strain from caregiving responsibilities.
During my block visits in Jalan Kayu, and in many conversations with workers at union events and community gatherings, I have heard the anxieties of our people:
a. Young graduates worry if they will be able to find good jobs;
b. Mid-career and older PMEs fear being displaced by AI and economic restructuring; and
c. Families struggle with the pressures of caregiving – wondering how they can cope with the financial, physical, and emotional strains.
d. These are not abstract concerns. They are the daily worries of ordinary Singaporeans trying to secure a better future for themselves and their loved ones.
Mr Deputy Speaker, the Labour Movement supports the direction laid out by the President – to transform our economy amidst AI disruption, while ensuring that no Singaporean is left to journey alone.
To achieve this, the Labour Movement calls on the Government to work with tripartite partners on three fronts:
a. One, ensure good jobs for every generation, so young graduates can start well and have opportunities to grow, mid-career workers and PMEs can adapt and seize new opportunities, and older workers can continue contributing with dignity.
b. Two, uplift our vulnerable lower-wage workers, platform workers, and freelancers by ensuring fair earnings and dignified work.
c. Three, stronger support for our caregivers, so no Singaporean has to choose between caring for their loved ones and keeping their job.
My fellow Labour MPs and I will outline the priorities of the Labour Movement to advance these fronts.
I will focus my address on two areas today: ensuring good jobs amidst AI disruption; and better support for caregivers.
AI DISRUPTION
Let me first speak about AI disruption. AI has great economic potential for Singapore. It can boost productivity and help businesses stay competitive.
On the flip side, I know many workers, including PMEs, see AI as a threat:
a. Big companies – such as Amazon and Microsoft – are cutting jobs.
b. Drivers worry about being displaced and replaced by Autonomous vehicles.
c. They don’t know what AI mean for them and their jobs.
I fully understand these concerns. It can be daunting not knowing what to expect and how to keep up. They say, “I know AI is here, but Sec-Gen, I don’t know what I can do.”
This is why we must do more to equip our workers to meet AI disruption head-on: bring the right tools and know-how to businesses and workers, so they can take proactive steps to seize AI-driven opportunities.
To this end, NTUC stands ready to support the National AI Strategy. We want to work with the Government and tripartite partners to put forth a National AI Adoption and Training Initiative.
I’ll call this initiative “AI-Ready SG” as a working name. It will serve as a one-stop platform to integrate existing resources from Government and tripartite partners, so businesses and workers can be truly AI ready.
Through “AI-Ready SG” -
a. Workers can access dedicated resources for upskilling, and navigate career transitions.
b. Employers can tap into resources to embark on practical AI transformation.
The “AI-Ready SG” initiative can ride on the Company Training Committee (CTC) ecosystem to support AI transformation. This goes in part in answering some colleagues’ earlier speeches about converging business interests and workers’ interests.
a. Businesses get to figure out what AI means to them, chart out their transformation roadmap, and implement projects that deliver real productivity gains.
b. At the same time, workers, including PMEs, can better map out their AI skills upgrading pathways - boosting both job security and work prospects along their company’s transformation.
In fact, employers and NTUC have started using the CTC model to catalyse AI transformation:
a. Take BSL Unify, a manufacturing services company, for example. Through the CTC, they embarked on a company-wide digital transformation programme and implemented an AI-powered service portal.
b. Previously, customer service and operations staff relied on Excel sheets to laboriously manually track inventory and manage enquiries.
c. Today, the portal has saved BSL Unify more than 2,500 manhours per year, with a 40% efficiency improvement through streamlined processes and smart data management.
d. Staff also receive a monthly skills allowance of $150 to encourage and enhance their AI-skills, a true win-win outcome.
This is just one example of how “AI-Ready SG” can help companies move up the value chain and bring workers, including PMEs, along.
The CTCs power these efforts. As of July this year, we have committed more than $7.4 million in CTC grants to AI-related projects, which is about 11% of the total number of CTC projects.
Mr Deputy Speaker, let us take heed of the President’s call:
a. For businesses, AI must mean better business.
b. For workers, including PMEs, AI upskilling must mean better jobs, better wages, and better work prospects.
c. If we can do these, we will be able exploit AI to transform our economy and better Singaporean lives.
SUPPORTING CAREGIVERS
Let me now turn to caregiving. I thank the Government and tripartite partners for measures like enhanced paternity and shared parental leave. Yet many workers still struggle with the day-to-day reality of caregiving. Balancing a job while tending to the needs of a sick elderly parent, a child or adult with special needs, can be exhausting. It is not just about managing time. It is about the stress, the sleepless nights, and the emotional weight that caregivers carry every single day.
I recently met Mr Goh, a 45-year-old freelancer and beneficiary of NTUC’s U-Care Fund. He and his wife are both working, and they have four children – two of whom have special needs. One child requires round-the-clock care.
He shared that he is grateful that while subsidies help, he worries about medical expenses chipping away at their family’s savings.
What troubles him most is not just today’s struggles, but the future:
a. Will his children cope when he and his wife can no longer care of them?
b. Will they be able to retire with dignity?
More than anything, he hopes that families like his won’t be left to carry the heavy load of care alone.
His story is not unique. During my house visits in Jalan Kayu, caregivers shared with me the same worries – how to juggle work and caregiving, and the stress and mental toll it places on them.
We must do more to support caregivers to take care of themselves and their loved ones.
Sir, let us not stop at empathising with caregivers like Mr Goh. We must do more to strengthen caregivers’ support in these areas:
a. First, help caregivers stay in work. Having a job is essential for long-term financial resilience. We must expand flexible work arrangements (FWAs) and enshrine caregiving leave, making them more widespread, accessible, and importantly, stigma-free.
b. Second, help caregivers who have left work to return to work. We must redouble our efforts on “Back to Work” programmes to ease their transition, especially for those who have stepped off work for prolonged periods of time. We must better design and enhance our existing schemes, to bridge skills gaps, find suitable job opportunities, provide mentorship, and give employer incentives to hire returning caregivers.
c. Third, strengthen the ecosystem of care. We must make bold moves to ensure that care support for elderly and disabled loved ones is available, affordable, and accessible.
While we are moving in the right direction, we must be prepared to review our policies to better support our caregivers. This includes:
a. Reviewing MediSave limits and caregiving subsidies to defray costs;
b. Providing CPF top-ups for primary caregivers with insufficient retirement adequacy;
c. Enhancing community care services including for persons with special needs, persons with mental health conditions and dementia; and
d. Strengthening care coordination so families don’t have to struggle to navigate the generous but multiple schemes and agencies, not knowing what to do.
Sir, many of us are caregivers currently or will be at some point. So let us take bold steps to ensure that Singaporeans have the support they need to care for their loved ones, while staying resilient at work and at home.
Sir, in Mandarin.
在今后几年，我们的工友将面对更大的压力。一方面是人工智能 (AI) 快速发展带来的冲击，另一方面是照顾家庭的责任。
工运呼吁劳资政伙伴一起推动全国性的AI培训和应用计划，帮助企业和工友转型，迎接新时代。
a. 对与企业，AI能带来更好的发展潜能；
b. 对工友，尤其是专业人士和行政人员（PMEs), AI能带来更优质的就业机会、更高薪金和更好的职业发展前景。
随着我国迈入“超老龄社会”，更多工友和家庭需要在工作和照顾亲人之间取得平衡，
真的不容易。
我们必须加强对看护者的支持，确保没有人因照顾亲人, 而被迫在事业与家庭之间作出艰难的选择。我们可以从三个方面着手：
a. 第一，我们要帮助看护者继续留在职场。我们建议扩大灵活工作安排的适用范围，并建立完善的看护假制度。
b. 第二，我们要帮助看护者重新回到职场。我们可以推出一个全国性的 “重返职场”
计划，以减轻他们回归职场的困难，尤其是那些因看护责任而长期离岗的工友。
c. 第三，我们要果断行动，打造一个更强大的看护生态系统，特别是为年长、患病或残障的亲人提供支持。
d. 我们应该勇于推动看护服务的改革，确保相关资源对有需要者而言是可获得的、
负担得起的，并且使用便利。
CONCLUSION
Sir, I am deeply honoured and privileged to return to this House. I have entered this House on a narrow margin, but I will serve with full conviction, because I stand to be the voice for our workers - fighting for better lives, better jobs, and a brighter future for all.
To the voters in Jalan Kayu, thank you for the trust you have placed in me. I will honour it and serve you to the best of my abilities.
Mr Deputy Speaker, as Singapore confronts accelerating AI disruption and rising caregiving demands, let us all in this Parliament keep faith with the workers, caregivers and families who want a chance at a better life.
Together, let us build a Singapore where every worker can succeed at work; where every family can thrive; and where every Singaporean can journey forward with hope and dignity.
For every worker. For every family. For Singapore. Thank you.
