The collaboration will provide training opportunities for more than 12,000 local workers, of which 70% are Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMET)
First-of-its kind Workforce 4.0 Career and Training Fair offers new Industry 4.0 job roles and training; 95% of jobs offered for PMETs

1. 31 May 2019, Friday – Thirty-two manufacturing companies have come together with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) and seven unions to cement their commitment to implement Company Training Committees (CTCs) in their respective organisations. These CTCs will play a crucial role on the ground to drive worker-centric industry transformation – assessing skills development gaps in the company, developing training roadmaps and rolling out robust digital and technological skills training to empower companies to develop a skilled workforce that is ready to take on Industry 4.0. Driven by NTUC’s Manufacturing Training Committee under the NTUC Training Council, the collaboration is expected to benefit more than 12,000 local workers – of which 70 per cent are Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs).

2. Today, the 32 unionised companies and seven unions – Chemical Industries Employees’ Union, Keppel Employees Union, Metal Industries Workers’ Union, Singapore Industrial & Services Employees’ Union, Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Employees’ Union, United Workers of Electronics & Electrical Industries and United Workers of Petroleum Industry – officially signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) to set up CTCs and drive training for workers. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Dr Koh Poh Koon, NTUC Deputy Secretary-General and Group Director for Training & Work Prospects, at the inaugural Workforce 4.0 Symposium.

Collaborative effort needed for CTCs to catalyse worker-centric industry transformation

3. As Singapore gears towards Industry 4.0, the adoption of robotics and automation has become increasingly widespread and this has led to the manufacturing sector becoming one of the most technologically disrupted industries. With the manufacturing sector employing 13.3 per cent of our workforce¹ and the sector being the largest contributor (21.4 per cent) to the Singapore’s Nominal Gross Domestic Product in 2018, the Labour Movement has been working closely with unions, employers and the Government to raise productivity while ensuring that the workforce upskills so that industry transformation is a worker-centric one.

4. Comprising union leaders, NTUC’s e2i and management partners, the CTCs will see unionists using their ground advantage to reach out to and understand the training needs and gaps of different worker groups while encouraging them to have the right mindset towards transformation. They will also work with their respective company’s management to partner relevant training providers through NTUC’s e2i to curate customised training that is tailored to specific workers’ needs in order to equip workers with the relevant skill sets, enabling them to work alongside new technologies.

5. The CTCs can leverage the Labour Movement’s Digital Readiness Framework (BBIP) and Advanced Manufacturing Framework (PIDA) to map out training roadmaps for different worker groups in the company, help them navigate through a step-by-step guide to raise their skills and competencies, and enable workers to be confident in embracing Industry 4.0. Companies can also harness NTUC’s e2i’s U Leap Enterprise – a closed, private platform that enables companies to customise and curate bite-sized training for their respective worker groups within their company.

Workforce 4.0 Career and Training Fair

6. In conjunction with the Workforce 4.0 Symposium, the Workforce 4.0 Career and Training Fair was held in the adjacent hall at the Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability. The first of its kind, the Workforce 4.0 Career and Training Fair offered PMET job seekers training opportunities and new job roles brought about by Industry 4.0. At the fair, 14 companies put up over 500 job vacancies, with 95% of jobs offered specifically for PMETs. These include roles such as ‘Automation Engineer’, ‘System Design and Vision Engineers’ and ‘IoT Software Engineer’. The fair also featured eight training providers offering Industry 4.0-related training in areas like Additive Manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence for Smart Factories and Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT).

8. Dr Koh Poh Koon, NTUC Deputy Secretary-General and Group Director for Training & Work Prospects, said, “As compared to their counterparts in other countries, Singapore’s companies and workers in the manufacturing sector are very well supported – not only do they enjoy grants and assistance from the Government to move towards Industry 4.0, but they can also tap on our unions to help hold the ground and mobilise workers for training. This is possible with tripartism and the CTCs is a result of that. The CTCs will help to drive transformation within the company and ensure that workers are not being left behind. At the end of the day, we want our workers to be able to enjoy better wages, welfare and work prospects as the company successfully transforms.”
9. Chief Executive Officer of e2i and Assistant Director-General of NTUC, Mr. Gilbert Tan said, “Consistent with industry transformation taking place in manufacturing, we are starting to see a growing number of Industry 4.0 jobs. Workers need to equip themselves with greater depth and breadth of digital as well as technological skills to keep pace with industry transformation and capture these new opportunities.”

¹ https://stats.mom.gov.sg/Pages/Labour-Force-In-Singapore-2018.aspx