From The Straits Times
By Chua Hian Hou
Published 20 Aug 2010
EMPLOYERS must recognise the sacrifices of workers when times are bad, and respond accordingly when things pick up.
In making the call to reward workers for their loyalty, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew joined a number of his Cabinet colleagues who have also asked employers to play fair.
Speaking to 300 infocommunications and media industry workers at a National Day observance ceremony yesterday, Rear-Admiral (NS) Lui said: 'Workers have done their part. It is now time for companies and management to respond.'
Singapore workers, he said, had accepted wage cuts or freezes to help their companies pull through the global financial crisis that started in late 2008.
Now that the economy is on the mend, companies should not short-change workers for their sacrifices, especially when bonus time comes, he said.
'I hope too that at the end of the year, at bonus time, there will be something for every worker in recognition of his belt-tightening,' said RADM Lui, to cheers from the crowd who came from eight unions, including the Union of Telecoms Employees of Singapore and the Singapore National Union of Journalists.
RADM Lui joins a growing number of senior officials, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say, who have urged companies to reward workers.
Just two weeks ago, Mr Lim, who is also the National Trades Union Congress' secretary-general, warned companies in his National Day message that if this did not happen, workers' 'trust will be broken and we will not be able to mobilise workers to tighten their belts in future downturns'.
Singapore's biggest company SingTel, which hosted the ceremony at its Exeter Road headquarters, is looking at the issue right now, said a spokesman.
While the company froze salaries during the crisis, it gave a one-time $300 payment to staff, and 'with the possible upturn in the economy, SingTel will review remuneration in line with the group's overall performance', she said.
SingTel recently reported net profits of $943 million for the three months to June.
Electronic records management firm SQL View has done even better.
The company, which froze its 30 Singapore employees' salaries last year, gave them a 12 per cent raise earlier this year.
'We gave back to our staff what they lost during the freeze, and increased their pay too... It was basically two years' increment at one shot,' said the firm's chief executive Stephen Lim.
Staff can look forward to a good bonus at the end of the year too, he added.
The sacrifice by workers here, said RADM Lui, has also paid another dividend: It has boosted Singapore's reputation as a good place to invest in.
This is important because multinationals want the assurance that a multibillion-dollar plant of which the cost takes decades to recoup will not be wracked by costly strikes and protests.
'And the unity we have shown during the downturn has impressed investors around the world,' he said.
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