SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and key union leaders greeted workers at Senoko Energy at their Plant in Woodlands on Saturday (Jan 28), on the first day of the Chinese New Year.
Since 1999, key leaders from the Labour Movement have visited working people in the essential services sector during Chinese New Year to thank them for putting their work and duties ahead of holidays and personal celebrations. Mr Lee was accompanied by his wife, Ho Ching, as well NTUC President Mary Liew, NTUC Secretary-General Chan Chun Sing and other NTUC members.
Mr Lee gave out red packets and mandarin oranges as well as gifts provided by Mrs Lee to some 30 workers. They comprise of shift managers, engineers and technical officers who work to keep Singapore’s power running. The visit ended with a traditional Lo Hei session.
Mr Lee said the team on duty was in good spirits this morning, and it was good to be back to see the team working well and adopting new technologies. He said the power industry is one that has been restructuring and upgrading itself to keep up with changing times.
“From being PUB, SingPower to breaking up into the gencos and technology has changed from steam to fuel oil to gas to combine cycle. Each time, more efficient. Each time, better for Singaporeans. Each time it means change and disruption for the workers. And sometimes there were job losses.
“Often, there would be retraining and deployment. But by working closely together with UPage, with the union leaders, successive generations of union we’ve been able to make the restructuring and advance on this journey.” said Mr Lee.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong being briefed on some of the work processes at Senoko Energy Plant in Woodlands. (Photo: Afifah Ariffin)
Mr Lee said Singapore’s economic growth of 1.8 per cent in 2016 was less than the government had hoped for, but more than it had expected.
He added that there was some pick up towards the end of the year, particularly in the manufacturing industry, and hopes that it will continue into this year. He also said the government is not just monitoring retrenchment numbers, but also the number of people getting reemployed.
“I think it’s as well as not so bad. Overall, we’re having new jobs created. Not as many as before, but enough so that Singaporeans are fully employed and people who come out of Poly, or ITE or University, they find jobs quite quickly,” said Mr Lee.