ウィスパリング同時通訳研究会コミュのPM Lee Hsien Loong’s May Day Rally speech delivered at D’Marquee, Downtown East on 1 May 2021.

Sister Mary Liew, President of NTUC
Brother Ng Chee Meng, Secretary-General of NTUC
Brother Dr Robert Yap, President, Singapore National Employers’ Federation
Comrades from the PAP, Brothers and Sisters in the Labour Movement
Good morning and Happy May Day!

Happy to join you in person to mark May Day this year. I was last here two years ago. Last year we couldn’t do it, the Rally took place virtually, during the circuit breaker. This year, our COVID-19 situation is better. We can gather together, although in smaller numbers than usual and safe management and in different coloured tags. It is important for us to do this. Because this year is special. It is NTUC’s 60th birthday. Happy Birthday NTUC!

NTUC and the PAP
NTUC’s founding is closely intertwined with the Singapore story. Many of Singapore’s founding leaders began their political lives in the trade unions or fighting alongside them. Mr Lee Kuan Yew himself launched his political career by representing the postal workers’ union, in the postmen’s strike of 1952. When Mr Lee and his colleagues founded the PAP in 1954 to fight for independence from the British, several unionists were among the first members. The next year, Mr Lee stood for election in Tanjong Pagar. The postmen mobilised to support him and helped give him his first electoral victory.

After Singapore achieved self-government, the fight between the non-communists and the pro-communists heated up. The unions became a battleground. In 1961, the pro-communist group broke away from the PAP to form a separate party, the Barisan Sosialis, and the trade union movement also split. Out of 100 unions, 82 supported the Barisan Sosialis. But 12 stalwart unions stood by the PAP. They got together and formed the NTUC. That was how the NTUC was born, and that is why this year, we are celebrating its 60th birthday.

Persuading unions to join NTUC was a tough proposition. It needed steel and guts. But a small group of union leaders battled against the tide. They were led by Devan Nair and Ho See Beng. Another stalwart was Mahmud Awang, who became the Chairman of the NTUC’s Pro-Tem Committee. Encik Mahmud came from the Singapore Traction Company (STC) Employees’ Union, one of the 12 that joined NTUC. Later he became a PAP Legislative Assemblyman, and then after independence, a PAP MP. Long after he retired, Encik Mahmud would still come to gatherings of old PAP MPs until recently, where I was privileged to get to know him and meet him. Sadly, Encik Mahmud passed away this January. But we remember him warmly and will always keep him in our hearts.

The founding PAP and NTUC leaders forged deep bonds of comradeship in the crucible of struggle. First, fighting against communism. And later against communalism, which led to Separation from Malaysia, and independence. These bonds were tested again in the early years of independence.

In 1967, the British announced their intention to withdraw all their military forces from Singapore. Meanwhile, widespread industrial strife was deterring foreign investment. It meant an economic crisis was coming. The government had to act quickly to foster a more conducive environment for investment and to create jobs. It introduced new laws, which restored to employers their rights to hire and fire their employees and curtailed the unions’ powers. Not surprisingly, the unions found this difficult to accept.
The government worked with NTUC leaders to assure workers that their basic rights would be protected and this was the right thing to do for workers. But not everyone was persuaded. The perception grew that the unions were no longer effective. In the four years after independence, union membership fell by nearly a quarter.

A Turning Point
The NTUC therefore faced a pressing challenge: to fight for its own relevance and existence. In 1969, the NTUC held its “Modernisation Seminar”. The aim was not just to arrest the decline of union membership. But to look forward and define NTUC’s role in an industrialising new economy, an industrialising Singapore. The stakes were high. Devan Nair chaired the Seminar and said, the Labour Movement was caught “in a race between modernisation and extinction”. Either you modernise, transform yourself or you perish and go extinct. He argued that workers were ultimately interested in salaries and bonuses, and not in strikes or a communist state. And therefore, unless the Labour Movement reformed itself, it would fall short of its responsibility to improve the lives of workers.
This Modernisation Seminar was a pivotal moment in the history of NTUC. Both PAP Ministers and NTUC leaders were convinced that a revitalised and forward-looking NTUC would be the right partner for the government to build a better future. A strong Labour Movement would spur workers to give their best, fully confident that they would receive their fair share as Singapore grew and prospered. Indeed this was what happened.

NTUC’s refreshed mission ushered in a new era of industrial relations, based not on confrontation but on collaboration. As part of its new mission, NTUC launched social enterprises. It set up cooperatives like NTUC Income and FairPrice. As well as childcare centres, at a time when there was no market these services. It was doing national service, but also meeting its members’ needs. The employers played their part too, treating the unions as partners and not as adversaries. They later formed Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF). From the union’s point of view, this was the employers’ trade union. SNEF celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. A week ago, they had a formal celebration which DPM Heng Swee Keat attended. We should not miss this chance to wish SNEF and Brother Robert Yap a happy 40th anniversary too.
Only in Singapore do such things happen.
Our unique tripartite model has supported decades of sustained, rapid economic growth for Singapore, and seen us through many rough spots. In 1985, Singapore encountered our first major recession. I was then at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI). Mr Ong Teng Cheong was The NTUC Secretary-General was Mr Ong Teng Cheong. As the situation worsened and the clouds darkened, we gathered the union leaders at the Conference Hall.

It was a sombre meeting. Mr Ong and I spoke to them. We had a very hard message to convey. We explained how grave things were. How our business costs had got out of line and made Singapore uncompetitive. And why drastic action was needed, including cutting CPF by 15 percentage points and implementing wage restraint.
Many more dialogues followed. Other ministers and union leaders joined in, to persuade workers of what we needed to do. Workers could see the job losses for themselves. The cancelled orders. They understood the message. They accepted the bitter medicine. But ultimately, they supported the tough measures not because of our explanations. It was also because that generation of union leaders, including Mr Ong Teng Cheong, had earned their trust. Fortunately, the medicine worked faster than we expected. By the next year, the economy was already picking up.

That unforgettable experience, unforgettable for those of us who went through it, reinforced the bonds between the government and the unions, as well as with employers too. It was a powerful demonstration of tripartism at work. And it convinced many more MNCs to invest in Singapore, which created more good jobs for Singaporeans.
Subsequent generations of government, union and business leaders have sustained these bonds. Government has kept faith with the workers, we restored CPF rates whenever economic conditions permitted. Employers played their part, they shared their pain of economic downturns, they prioritised jobs, they treated retrenchment as a last resort. Union leaders cooperated with government and employers to find solutions to difficult problems in the crisis and afterwards.

For example, in the 1990s, we needed to restructure the power industry. This was a complex effort which took a decade. We hived off the Electricity Department from the Public Utilities Board, we corporatised it to become SingPower, and subsequently restructured it into different pieces – the gencos, the power grid, the gas supply. We built a more efficient industry, to deliver more reliable and affordable electricity supplies to industries and to our homes. Singaporeans benefited from the results. But the restructuring had a major impact on the workers in the power industry. It was very destructive, very upsetting and very difficult for them.
I was still overseeing MTI at that time and worked closely with the Public Utilities Board Staff Union (PUBSU) and PUB Daily-Rated Employees’ Union (PUBDREU), which later merged to form the Union of Power & Gas Employees (UPAGE).

The union leaders worked hard to persuade their members and helped those affected by the changes. The late Brother Nithiah Nandan from the PUBDREU played a crucial role. So did Brother Nachiappan Sinniah (Nachi) from the PUBSU. Brother Nachi sadly left us earlier this year. He and I had stayed in touch over the years. He would update me on how things were in the power industry, as it went through ups and downs. He would watch my speeches and press conferences and regularly send me messages of feedback and support. Whether it was New Year or May Day, I would hear from him and exchange greetings and update one another.
Even after he retired, Brother Nachi continued imparting his knowledge and experience to younger unionists. He showed them how to champion workers’ interests, while building trust with employers and the government to achieve win-win outcomes. We need more union leaders like him.

The tripartite partners overcame many major recessions and crises together. They happened regularly, at least once every decade: We went through the Asian Financial Crisis. We endured SARS. We were hit by the Global Financial Crisis. Each time, the trust between the workers, businesses and government held, and proved crucial. And each time we knew it would happen again and we would need this trust.

Now with COVID-19, we are going through the crisis not of a decade, but of a generation. But when we look back at our record of how we have overcome past crises, COVID-19 does not look quite so daunting.
This last year, NTUC’s dedication to its mission has truly come to the fore. You protect workers in every way. When retrenchments were unavoidable, for example in the aviation industry and banking, the unions ensured that they were carried out fairly and responsibly. I met some unionists recently, preparing for this Rally. They shared with me their experiences helping retrenched workers. It was not easy for them. But they felt a sense of mission, cushioning the blow for the affected workers, helping them get back on their feet, helping them find and settle into new jobs.

Union leaders worked hard to help workers make full use of all the government schemes – Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), Jobs Growth Initiative (JGI), and the Self-Employed Income Relief Scheme (SIRS). And you encouraged workers to take the long view, to accept immediate sacrifices to keep businesses going, to make it easier for employers to hold on to their staff. Because of your efforts, although this downturn was worse than any we had gone through before, our local employment did not plunge. It went down a little bit and unemployment went up. But now unemployment is coming down again and our employment numbers, in fact, have gone up a little, compared to where we were the previous year.
Today, on May Day, I would like to say a big thank you to all our brothers and sisters for your tireless efforts over the past year, for your “never-say-die” spirit, which has helped us come through COVID-19 together.

A brighter outlook
Looking ahead, our economic outlook has brightened considerably. The global recession has been less protracted than we initially feared. Europe is still struggling to contain COVID-19. But the US is expected to make a strong recovery on the back of a large stimulus package, and good progress vaccinating its population.
China’s economy is performing strongly too. These external trends give us confidence in our own prospects. MTI’s earlier forecast for the year was 4% to 6% growth. Barring a setback to the global economy and provided our domestic COVID-19 situation remains stable, there is a very good chance we can achieve 6% or better this year.

Of course, even 6% growth will only bring us back to where we were before COVID-19 struck. Some sectors, like aviation and tourism, will not recover soon. And now we see new strains of COVID-19 emerging. We are watching our own situation, and it can easily and quickly turn bad again. After a long period when we had few community cases, in the last few days, several new community clusters have emerged. Some are quite big and worrying.
The government is doing everything we can to prevent these clusters from spreading further into the community. We will have to be agile and decisive with our response, and tighten measures promptly where it is necessary, to clamp down on the spread and avoid going into a second circuit breaker.

I hope Singaporeans work with us, and not let down our guard. It is not time to relax yet. This is a marathon. Let us keep jogging and keep ourselves safe. Do not make the mistakes other countries have done – celebrate too early, relax too fast, let your guard down, and cause another wave to come; very often worse than the first. And more nasty, drastic measures become necessary. If we have to do another lockdown like last year’s Circuit Breaker, it would be a major setback for our people and for our economic recovery. Let us not make it happen.

One factor that has helped us keep COVID-19 under control is the unremitting efforts and sacrifices of our workers. Our healthcare workers have been on the frontline. They have been testing, vaccinating, and treating patients. Going beyond the call of duty to keep everyone safe. Thank you for your dedication and courage.
Our aviation workers have had their livelihoods severely impacted. Passenger flights remain mostly grounded. But cargo flights are still flying, and many workers have returned to man these flights. But we do not many aircrews to serve and smile on these flights. Quite a number of our aircrew have joined the fight against COVID-19.

They have become patient care ambassadors, contact tracers and Safe Distancing Ambassadors. Where they go, people can recognise them; the Changi style that is the SIA standard. They have made a contribution and they have made themselves invaluable. We have now set up a secure system for testing and isolating passengers arriving in Singapore. Almost all our frontline workers have been vaccinated. And we are making steady progress vaccinating all of Singapore residents.
With these conditions falling into place, we will be able to open travel safely, step by step, especially to lower risk countries. The aviation business still has a long way to go before a full recovery, but at last we are catching glimpses of light at the end of the tunnel.

Our construction workers have experienced COVID-19 at ground zero. We must continue to ensure their wellbeing, health and safety, whether on worksites, in the migrant worker dormitories, or travelling to and from work. Some are Singaporeans, some are migrant workers. All of them are our brothers are sisters, and we look after all of them. We have put out the huge outbreak in the dormitories, and we have got everybody back to work. But the safe management measures which are still necessary have burdened the industry.
The manpower crunch, because some of the migrant workers have gone home, has added to its problems. Projects have been delayed. Costs have gone up. The recent ban on travellers from India has worsened the situation for the construction industry. We are working on emergency legislation to address this severe disruption and share the burden more fairly between the different parties – contractors, developers, and buyers. And I hope we will introduce the legislation in the next sitting of Parliament.

I have mentioned just three sectors which are particularly affected. In other sectors, workers have been affected by COVID-19 too. Some more, some less; but nobody has been left untouched.
Throughout this crisis, the government has provided relief and grants to help companies tide over this recession. Across last year and this year, we are drawing more than $50bn from our past reserves to support businesses and workers. It is an unprecedented draw. But as the economy recovers, we have to recalibrate our support to be at a more sustainable level.

When I met the union leaders, I asked “How are things?”. They all told me: “The JSS is marvellous!”. Then they all asked: “Please sir, can JSS please be extended longer?” I said we would think carefully about it. But please remember: JSS is artificial life support. It keeps us breathing for a while, but it does not cure us and it does not last forever. We must find a way to fully recover, get back on our feet, and build new muscles, to move Singapore forward again.

Seizing new opportunities
We must prepare ourselves for life after COVID-19. What will this future be like? We do not know for sure. But we can already see some trends, which the pandemic has accelerated, for example, we talk about digitalisation, automation, and sustainability. These are words you have heard many times over the last few months. What do they mean?
Let me give you one concrete small example for each one, so you understand what we are talking about, what we are trying to do, and why I think we can do it.

First, digitalisation. For years, we have tried to encourage hawkers to go digital, without very much success. Many hawkers did not think digitalisation was worth the investment, given their small scale. Besides, customers were used to queuing up at the hawker centre to order and paying in cash. But when we were forced into the Circuit Breaker last year, many hawkers had no choice but to adopt digitalisation and go online.
An entrepreneurial second-generation hawker, Melvin Chew, set up a Facebook Group, called “Hawkers United – Dabao 2020” to help hawkers advertise online. The software engineer created Take.sg, a simple order form on WhatsApp, to make it less daunting for older hawkers to take their business online. Other hawkers jumped on the platforms of food delivery companies, like Grab, Deliveroo and Foodpanda.

Now, if you want Char Kway Teow or Roti Prata, you can get them from more than 1,300 hawkers who offer some form of online delivery. And if you want to pay via e-payments, more than half of all hawkers have adopted e-payments. So even if you are queuing up at a hawker stall now, chances are you can e-pay using a QR code!
Secondly, automation. If you own a dog or a cat, you probably have heard of Pet Lovers’ Centre. It is Singapore's oldest and largest chain of pet supplies stores. During the Circuit Breaker, it had to close all 70 of its retail stores. But online orders surged, because pets still had to be fed and looked after. To cope, Pet Lovers Centre quickly developed a new system to track inventory.

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