Chee Hong Tat: Majority of Funds Allocated to NTUC Will Go Towards Companies with CTCs

Of the $100 million allocated to NTUC in this year budget, $70 million will be used to help companies with Company Training Committees (CTC) implement their transformation plans.

The remaining $30 million will go towards expanding NTUC’s team of industry training officers to grow its network of CTCs to benefit more workers and companies.

NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Chee Hong Tat made the announcement during his maiden speech as a Labour Member of Parliament on 1 March 2022.

Standing in support of the year’s budget, he also shared that NTUC will set a more ambitious goal of forming at least 2,500 CTCs by 2025 to drive workforce and business transformation, up from its initial goal of 1,000 CTCs in 2022.

Mr Chee said that the formation of CTCs has helped companies to redesign jobs and implement productivity improvements, improved workplace safety and health, provided training to existing workers and new entrants, and matched jobseekers to companies that are growing and expanding.

He said: “Our ecosystem brings together a comprehensive package of training and placement services provided by e2i, NTUC LearningHub, Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute (OTCi) and NTUC’s Industry Training and Transformation team.

“Compared to an entity which does only training or only job matching, we provide companies and workers with a wider range of integrated services. Our union leaders will mobilise workers to actively upskill themselves and support the company’s transformation plans.”

Mr Chee also thanked the Government for agreeing to NTUC’s proposal to provide $100 million to upscale the CTC initiative.

He said: “We will make good use of the $30 million funding from Government to expand our team of Industry Training Officers and enlarge our network of CTCs to benefit more workers and companies.”

Since it first embarked on this initiative in April 2019, NTUC has, to date, formed some 826 CTCs with both SMEs as well as larger organisations.

Tripartite Academies

Meanwhile, Mr Chee also touched on tackling jobs-skills mismatch through the formation of tripartite academies.

He elaborated that the tripartite academies, which will be a collaboration of unions, employers, and government agencies, will jointly identify industry-specific skills requirements, so that workers can receive job-relevant training.

“The tripartite coordination can help achieve better alignment, improve job placement rates, and reduce wasted time and effort for both employers and job-seekers,” he said.

NTUC is currently in discussion with employers and government agencies to explore setting up tripartite academies in sectors such as advanced manufacturing, retail, logistics, security, healthcare and maritime.

Mr Chee hopes that the list of sectors will grow over time, and that the tripartite academies will serve as collaboration platforms at a sectoral level to complement the growing network of CTCs.