Ahead of the National Day Rally this coming Sunday (29 Aug), the Workers’ Party (WP) has issued a statement to repeat the calls made by the party, both in its manifesto for General Election 2020 and speeches made by its Members of Parliament (MPs) over the past decade.
In a Facebook post on Friday (27 Aug), the party said that it welcomes the recent signals from high-ranking government figures on the Government’s openness towards implementing much-needed reforms in key areas of public policy, such as a national minimum wage, redundancy insurance, and anti-discrimination laws.
It highlighted a few policy ideas which it had recently advanced.
The ideas are:
- 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝘁𝗵𝗲-𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗺 𝘄𝗮𝗴𝗲 that provides a living wage for workers, which can comfortably co-exist with the Progressive Wage Model that could allow for higher sector-specific wage floors and productivity-linked wage increments from that universal minimum level.
- 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲 to provide pay-outs for those who are involuntarily unemployed. Had such a scheme been introduced before COVID-19, it would have enabled pay-outs that would have cushioned the shock to the economy and the livelihoods of those laid off due to the economic contraction in 2020, and reduced the amounts drawn from national reserves. WP issued a policy paper in 2016 and moved a Parliamentary Adjournment Motion on this subject in 2017.
- 𝗔𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗱 𝗮 𝗚𝗦𝗧 𝗵𝗶𝗸𝗲 in favour of other approaches to managing revenue shortfall, such as easing the rules to allow for a greater Net Investment Returns Contribution—as had been done before—or allowing for a partial contribution from land sales to the Budget, as is already the case for sales of land leases of less than 10 years, which count towards operating revenue for budgetary purposes.
- 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶-𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝘄𝘀 that prohibit bias in hiring and firing by ethnicity, gender, and age, which will provide greater clarity to job seekers and deter discrimination in the job market by unscrupulous employers.
- 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 under the Housing Development Board (HDB), to ensure affordability; introducing a universal sale and lease buyback scheme; and promoting urban renewal by expanding the SERS system. WP has issued a policy paper on this subject in 2019.
Just yesterday (26 Aug), National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) made a suggestion to provide more support — in the form of payouts — to mature professionals, managers, and executives (PMEs) as long as they can prove that they are actively seeking for a job employment.
It also called for harsher penalties to be imposed on companies that continue to discriminate against PMEs based on their age and nationality.
These two suggestions were made by NTUC, as part of a task force formed by NTUC and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), after talking to PMEs about their concerns.
WP said in its statement earlier today that it believes it is opportune to implement these ideas in light of recent public discussions focusing on these areas of policy.
Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, will be making his address to the nation this Sunday at Mediacorp.
He will speak in Malay and Mandarin from 6.45pm to 7.15pm, and subsequently in English from 8pm to 9.15pm.
