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SINGAPORE: Unionists are calling for wage increase and better bonuses in light of the third quarter economic results.

At the same time, union leader Halimah Yacob says more work has to be done to help workers affected by restructuring, despite the high growth.

As Singapore's economy powers ahead, restructuring is also taking place.

Hence structural unemployment and retrenchment is unavoidable, even with higher than expected growth rates, say union leaders.

"We should not be exuberant when we get figures, especially when it's not the end of the year yet. So I think my response is - 'let's be cautiously optimistic'," says Mdm Halimah, Assistant Secretary-General at NTUC.

"The figures are good - it shows that we are growing; job creation is good, much better than the same quarter last year. But we still have a lot of work to do, in terms of our workers continuing to go for skills upgrading and retraining because structural unemployment is still a real issue and challenge for us."

While unionists point out that this is a good time for workers to upgrade themselves, they also add that employers should share the fruits of economic growth with their workers.

Stephen Lee, President, Singapore National Employers Federation, says: "The relationship between employers and employees is very often tested during bad times when we need to readjust, restructure. But it is equally important that companies re-establish that confidence by rewarding workers fairly and equitably when the company is doing well."

Cyrille Tan, General Secretary of United Workers of Electronic and Electrical Industries, says: "This year of good economic growth should spell some good news for the lower-end workers in the manufacturing industry because the industry has always been very competitive. I hope that this year's growth will enable some of the workers to get better bonuses and hopefully, next year, we can have some good wage increase."

This is the second year that the growth targets for Singapore have been revised upwards after the economy performed better than expected.

Unionists say most governments are usually cautious when issuing economic forecasts. But they add that they will rather see a positive revision mid-year than a revision downwards. - CNA/so

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