Progressive wage model set to expand and cover up to 218,000 workers
Increase will come from extending model to workers in the food services and retail sectors: Zaqy
The progressive wage model (PWM) will soon cover up to nearly 218,000 workers - more than double the 85,000 currently.
Disclosing this yesterday, Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad said the increase in coverage will come from extending the PWM to up to 80,000 local workers in the food services and retail sectors, which have some of the largest numbers of lower-wage workers.
About 50,000 in-house cleaners, security officers and landscape maintenance workers would also soon be covered, he said.
The PWM is currently mandatory in the outsourced sectors of cleaning, security and landscape maintenance. It will be mandatory for the lift and escalator maintenance sector next year.
A wage model for the waste management sector is also in the works, and will benefit up to 3,000 workers.
Mr Zaqy, speaking during the debate on the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) budget, said committees involving the Government, labour movement and employers will make their recommendations by the end of this year on expanding the PWM to the new sectors.
For the extension of the PWM to include in-house cleaners, security officers and landscape workers, Mr Zaqy said the Tripartite Workgroup on Lower-Wage Workers will consult the affected sectors on a "suitable timeline to move forward".
Highlighting the benefits of the wage model, he cited the example of Mr Alvin Goh, 50, a security supervisor at Securite Associates.
Mr Goh joined the security industry in 2017 and was paid about $1,800 a month. Today, after moving up the PWM ladder through skills training, his gross wages have increased by more than 50 per cent.
Mr Zaqy also addressed National Trades Union Congress deputy secretary-general Koh Poh Koon's and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh's concerns that the expansion of the PWM would lead to profiteering by certain companies.
He said MOM would study options to "keep a close watch" on this.
Mr Singh highlighted how some lift maintenance vendors had begun to "throw a steep increase in maintenance fees" in their discussions with Aljunied-Hougang Town Council.
To this, Mr Zaqy said that since introducing the PWM for the lift maintenance sector for government contracts in 2019, the median gross monthly wages for full-time resident lift technicians had increased from around $3,300 in 2017 to nearly $3,800 in 2019.
"But, at the same time, our efforts may have some impact on consumer prices. This highlights why careful deliberation by tripartite partners is necessary as we expand to more PWMs," he said.
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