When Parliament met this month (9 Sept) to pass the Platform Workers Bill, it was a giant step for us as a society to advance the rights of over 70,000 vulnerable workers.
The Bill provides many benefits for platform workers, including CPF contributions and medical protection. In addition, the PAP Government will pay the full costs of CPF contributions for the lowest-earning platform workers in 2025. That is our commitment to platform workers.
But these important areas were the last things on the mind of Workers Party (WP) MP Gerald Giam.
Instead, Mr Giam launched into a ten-minute-long political attack on the NTUC, painting labour unionists as stooges, paralysed by groupthink and unable to fight for their own rights.
The Workers Party’s unfair caricature of union leaders shows how out of touch they are with the labour movement. They may have lost their relationship with trade unions a long time ago, but attacking the NTUC is not an appropriate response.
The symbiotic relationship between the PAP and the NTUC has played a central role in Singapore’s development. That our government, companies, and unions can work together has long been Singapore’s ‘secret sauce’ and an envy of the world.
Through this tripartite approach, we managed to build trust between various stakeholders. Singapore’s harmonious and constructive labour relations gave companies the confidence to invest here which in turn grew the economy and provided Singaporeans with better jobs.
Rather than strengthening the institutions that make us successful, the WP wants to dismantle them.
As the debate wore on, digressing further and further away from the Platform Workers Bill, WP continued to denounce Singapore’s brand of tripartism. Unions should not be associated with political parties, clamoured the WP.
Of course, the irony of WP’s demand is not lost on us. SMS Dr Koh Poh Koon ended up having to remind the WP of its history with trade unions.
When David Marshall founded the WP in 1957, its Executive Committee included 20 unionists.
One of the convenors during the time was Mr N.S.N Nair, a union leader. He declared the WP a political instrument for all workers united in trade unions.
However, the response from Leader of the Opposition, Mr Pritam Singh, was telling. He said that “more than 60 years has elapsed (since the formation of the WP) and the political situation has changed.”
Sadly, things have certainly changed. The WP of today has since forsaken its roots and charter to champion the rights of workers.
In choosing to hijack a bill meant to advance the cause of workers to attack NTUC and labour unions, the WP is revealing its true colours.
Instead of speaking up for platform workers, the WP turned the Parliamentary debate into a political attack on thousands of hardworking unionists who are workers themselves.
It is self-serving politics. The WP is less interested in seeing Singapore do well, and more interested in advancing its short-term political gains.
There may have been a time when the WP did care for workers. But that era, like their ties with our unions, is now history.
The Platform Workers Bill is a landmark piece of legislation three years in the making. It began because the government had worked closely with trade unions, who voiced the precarious nature of platform work to policymakers. Without tripartism, none of this would have happened.
Thankfully, with the PAP’s majority in Parliament, the Bill has passed, with its protections for platform workers, intact.
