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Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and NTUC Celebrates Lunar New Year with Workers at Changi Airport
~ The annual visit is a tradition led by NTUC to spread festive cheers to workers ~
Prime Minister (PM) Lawrence Wong joined Labour Movement leaders on Lunar New Year (LNY) Eve at Changi Airport Terminal 3 to express appreciation to workers for their tireless contributions throughout the year, especially during this festive period.
PM Wong and NTUC Show Appreciation to Our Workers During this Festive Season
PM Wong was accompanied by NTUC President K Thanaletchimi and NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng, as they visited workers at Changi Airport Terminal 3. They were joined by Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat and Senior Minister of State for Transport Dr Amy Khor, alongside tripartite partners including union and association leaders from the NTUC Aerospace and Aviation (A&A) Cluster1, National Taxi Association (NTA) and National Private Hire Vehicle Association (NPHVA); and management representatives from Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG).
During the visit, PM Wong engaged with and distributed LNY gift bags to airport workers across diverse job roles, such as ground handling agents and customer service officers. PM Wong also exchanged festive greetings with taxi drivers and private hire vehicle drivers plying the airport departure and arrival. Each gift bag contained a pair of mandarin oranges and a red packet from NTUC, along with a small gift from PM Wong. The visit was hosted by CAG Chief Executive Officer Mr Yam Kum Weng and his team.
NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng said, “Lunar New Year is a time for family, and while many of us gather with our loved ones, our airport workers, taxi drivers and private hire vehicle drivers are working hard to keep our Changi Air Hub running. We are grateful for their dedication and passion, as they work tirelessly throughout this festive season.”
He added, “Global passenger traffic is expected to double over the next two decades. This will create good job opportunities for our aviation workers. NTUC is working closely with our tripartite partners, including CAAS, Changi Airport Group and companies in the aviation sector, to attract more workers to join the sector. We will support our workers in their training and upskilling, so that they can secure good jobs within the sector, amidst these momentous developments.”
NTUC and Tripartite Partners Support our Aviation Workers and the Changi Air Hub
To meet this increasing demand, the Changi Air Hub will need to attract more workers to the sector. The OneAviation Careers Hub (OACH) – a tripartite initiative involving NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) and CAAS – seeks to do so through end-to-end job facilitation, career and training guidance, and recruitment support for employers. Since October 2022, OACH has assisted 3,800 locals for their career and training needs to date, and more than 1,400 jobseekers have successfully found employment in the A&A sector. Aircraft engineers and technicians, customer service agents and equipment operators are among the job roles that are most actively hiring on the OACH job portal, and are expected to remain in great demand as the Changi Air Hub develops further.
NTUC is thus partnering companies in the aviation sector through the Company Training Committee (CTC) Grant to enhance the productivity of these job roles, and redesign them to provide clear career progression and skills development pathways. For example, SATS Ltd has partnered NTUC and SATS Workers’ Union (SATSWU) to leverage the CTC Grant to redesign the Customer Service Agent (CSA) role and enhance their career progression opportunities2.
In tandem with these efforts, workers in the aviation sector would also need to develop new skills to meet future job requirements. To support this, NTUC LearningHub has provided more than 38,000 training places to the 56,000 workers in the aerospace and aviation (A&A) sector to date, through the NTUC Training and Placement Ecosystem3.
NTUC and our A&A cluster of unions are working closely with tripartite partners to support our workers in the aviation sector, in key areas such as training and upskilling; adoption of new technologies and practices; and workplace safety and health. These efforts will bolster the wages, welfare and work prospects of our aviation workers, as they progress in their careers and take on higher-value job roles within the sector. This will in turn ensure the sustainable, long-term growth of our aviation workforce, and with it, Singapore’s reputation as a leading global aviation hub.
[1] NTUC Aerospace and Aviation Cluster unions focus on enhancing productivity, innovation, and competitiveness within the sector, while working closely with the tripartite partners. Their objective is to address the industry’s unique challenges and drive better wages, welfare and work prospects for workers. The A&A cluster comprises the following unions: Air-Transport Executive Staff Union (AESU), Amalgamated Union of Public Employees (AUPE), DNATA Singapore Staff Union (DSSU), SATS Workers' Union (SATSWU), SIA Engineering Company Engineers and Executives Union (SEEU), Singapore Airlines Staff Union (SIASU), Singapore Industrial and Services Employees' Union (SISEU), Singapore Manual & Mercantile Workers' Union (SMMWU), ST Engineering Staff Union (STESU), and Scoot Staff Union (STSU).
[3] From 2021 to 2024. Of which, more than 33,000 training places were facilitated through the NTUC Company Training Committee (CTC).