NDR 2024: WP and PSP welcome support for retrenched workers, additional weeks of parental leave

SINGAPORE — The Workers' Party (WP) and Progress Singapore Party (PSP) said they welcomed moves to provide monetary support to workers who have lost their jobs, and to help parents under the new shared parental leave initiative.

At the same time, the two opposition parties urged the Government to make deeper policy reforms, particularly in the provision of public housing.

In his maiden National Day Rally speech on Aug 18, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme, under which unemployed individuals can receive temporary financial support of up to $6,000 over up to six months, subject to training, job coaching and other conditions.

In a Facebook post on Aug 19, WP said it was encouraged to see the policy changes announced by PM Wong.

It agreed with him that losing a job can seriously destabilise workers and their families, and reiterated the party's previous proposals for a redundancy insurance scheme for retrenched workers to receive up to $1,200 a month for up to six months.

"The WP's redundancy insurance scheme was designed with a view to be funded mainly by premiums paid by workers while they are employed, rather than by taxpayers," it said.

PM Wong had noted in his rally speech that countries which implemented unemployment insurance have not always had a positive experience, as persons may find it more attractive to stay unemployed rather than to go back to work after getting a generous benefit.

"That's why the Government has always been wary about such schemes," he said.

The WP added that it believed all parents-to-be would welcome the 10 additional weeks of shared parental leave, which are on top of current maternal and paternal leave entitlements.

PM Wong said the new initiative will be rolled out in two stages: six weeks' leave for babies born from April 1, 2025; and 10 weeks for those born from April 1, 2026.

The move is meant to reassure young couples and help them maintain a good balance between work and parenting responsibilities, while providing time for employers to adjust.

MPs from both sides of the House have over the years called for more parental leave.

In its Aug 19 post, WP said it had raised the issue in 2022 during the parliamentary debate on the White Paper on Singapore Women's Development, and had also proposed a shared parental leave scheme in its 2020 manifesto.

PAP MP Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC), a long-time advocate for more paid parental leave, had also at that sitting urged the Government to set a target year, perhaps 2030, by which Singapore could see an equal share of paternity and maternity leave.

This is as low paternity leave reinforces gender stereotypes by not giving fathers more chances to develop the skills and confidence to care for their children, said Ng, who has spoken on the issue in Parliament since 2017.

On the housing front, the WP noted PM Wong's announcement that singles will, from mid-2025, get the same priority access when applying for Build-to-Order flats to live with or near their families.

But it had called in its 2020 manifesto for the eligibility age for singles to apply for a BTO flat to be lowered from 35 to 28 years.

"We urge the Government to make this deeper policy reform sooner than later, to more comprehensively allay concerns among singles regarding housing access," it said.

In a Facebook post on Aug 18, PSP secretary-general Hazel Poa also welcomed the safety net for the involuntarily unemployed.

The NCMP noted that she had called for temporary financial support during the Budget debate in February 2024, given that retrenchments are becoming increasingly common.

Others who have called for unemployment support over the years include labour MP and National Trades Union Congress assistant secretary-general Patrick Tay, who had sought since 2014 for there to be government-funded aid for retrenched workers.

Poa said on Aug 18: "We are glad that the Government is now ready to implement the scheme to aid the involuntarily unemployed."

However, based on currently available details on the scheme, the PSP feels that more can still be done for lower- and middle-income workers, she added.

Poa also said PSP was heartened that the new prime minister continues to "place great emphasis on uplifting the nation's low total fertility rate", and that the new leave initiative is a much-needed change to promote the sharing of parental duties.

On housing, she said her party was disappointed that the Government had "yet again failed to address the root problem of our public housing policies, which we believe require a fundamental rethink".

The move to raise the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant for couples with lower-income "is simply more of the same", said Poa.

She reiterated two schemes the PSP had proposed in 2023 that would reset public housing here. Firstly to price Housing Board flats without land cost until home owners sold their flats, and secondly a national rental flat scheme for young Singaporeans with a majority of apartments in prime locations near the Central Business District.

In his rally speech, PM Wong pledged to always keep public housing affordable for young Singaporeans when they are ready to settle down, and that the Government will ensure there is an HDB flat within budget in every region.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.