In his speech during the Budget 2021 Debate on Wednesday (Feb. 24), Member of Parliament (MP) Fahmi Aliman called for the government to provide more support to low-wage essential workers and foreign workers.
Fahmi, who is the director of the operations and mobilisation division secretariat at the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), also suggested raising Progressive Wage Model (PWM) wages, and requiring employers to pay their foreign worker employees electronically.
Increase WIS payout for essential workers
Fahmi recognised staff working in essential services such as cleaning and security as "everyday heroes", commending them for taking on extra work such as additional sanitation of high-touch surfaces and temperature screening, for the sake of the public's safety.
He called on the government to provide a higher Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) to workers in the essential services, "to acknowledge their social value and the hardship faced in their line of work."
Currently, employees who qualify for WIS can get up to S$4,000 annually (for those above 60), while younger workers in other age brackets receive smaller payouts — those between the ages of 35 and 44 receive up to S$1,700.
Fahmi also spoke about NTUC's efforts to support essential service workers in training and upgrading their skillsets, saying that the group faces "barriers" such as time constraints, lack of support from employers, and language barriers.
Raise wages in PWM
Fahmi also said that wages in sectors covered by the PWM — cleaning, security, landscape maintenance, and most recently, waste management — need to be "commensurate with the skills and the essential services provided" by the workers.
He called for "all the stakeholders" to look at the value of the essential workers' jobs, saying that the PWM wages should consequently be increased.
He acknowledged that increasing wages of essential workers may mean that consumers need to pay more for their services.
Acknowledging that raising PWM wages was "never an easy call to make", Fahmi said that it would be an important step towards a "fairer and more enlightened society, where we ensure that all workers can live with dignity".
He called on the government to provide some kind of support to help ease the initial transition for those who would need to pay more for such workers' services, if workers' wages were increased.
Fahmi also said that NTUC will continue to advocate for expanding the PWM into more sectors, naming the pest management and strata management sectors as examples.
Outsourced buyers should have proper rest areas
Fahmi also spoke of the importance of workers' welfare.
He encouraged service buyers to set up proper and reasonable rest areas for their outsourced workers' well-being, in accordance with the Tripartite Advisory on Provision of Rest Areas for Outsourced Workers, which was released in 2019.
Such outsourced workers include cleaners, security officers, landscape maintenance workers, among others.
"Services buyers will also benefit from well-rested workers who would be productive," he said.
Fahmi also called on the government to encourage more landlords to adopt the Tripartite Guidelines by issuing a Gross Floor Area waiver for areas stipulated as rest areas.
Offer more support for foreign workers
Fahmi also recognised foreign workers for their hard work and contributions to Singapore, and called for more support for foreign workers.
Covid-19 brought to light the "immediate need" to improve foreign workers' living conditions, he said.
The Foreign Employee Dormitories Act (FEDA), which regulates the accommodations of foreign workers and includes a list of requirements to ensure the health and safety of dormitory residents, only applies to dormitories that house 1,000 or more workers.
Fahmi suggested that the government increase the scope of FEDA to also cover dormitories that accommodate less than 1,000 workers.
Doing so would ensure that more, or even all, of Singapore's foreign workers are housed in accommodations that are regulated and meet the "minimal provisions for their health and safety", he said.
Require employers to pay foreign workers electronically
Fahmi also suggested that employers could be required to pay foreign workers electronically, in light of the difficulties faced when trying to remit money back home to their families while being locked down in their dorms last year.
He said that it would not be a "novel solution", and pointed to existing requirements on S Pass holders' employers to pay salaries electronically and to keep a record of salary payments.
By extending this requirement to Work Permit holders, it would make it easier for workers to manage their finances electronically, and protect them from being exploited, as all salary payments would be recorded, Fahmi said.
Top photo via YouTube / MCI and Getty Images.