[Voodoo Vince]

NTUC and its 12 social enterprises offer 1,200 jobs at fair
Posted: 11 May 2009 2058 hrs

SINGAPORE: Another 1,200 jobs were offered at a fair on Monday. It was organised by the labour movement and its 12 social enterprises. Over 800 applications were received so far.

More than half of the vacancies were from NTUC First Campus Co-operative, which specialises in childcare. Over three-quarters of its 660 positions offered were for teaching positions.

NTUC First Campus will also arrange a day for applicants to visit its centres to help them get a feel of the job.

NTUC and its social enterprises such as NTUC Income, NTUC Eldercare and NTUC Foodfare currently hire 12,000 employees, 95 per cent of whom are Singaporeans or Permanent Residents.

And the labour movement promises to hire even more locals.

NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say said the labour movement was now waiting to see if the positive signs seen in the second quarter could carry into the third quarter and beyond.

He stressed the labour movement does not believe the recession is ending soon, despite some experts saying that the economy may have gone through its worst patch.

Mr Lim said: "We continue to see job losses in USA. We continue to see unemployment rates going up in USA. While the world may be starting to gamble with their money in the stock market, here in Singapore, we cannot afford to gamble the job of workers. What we have to do is to continue to stay on course. We continue to commit to this policy of retrenchments as a last resort."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...428457/1/.html