SINGAPORE: The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) has formed a research community to tackle evolving labour issues and meet the changing demands of the workforce.
The Labour Alliance co-laB (LAB) will bring together 50 researchers, academics, and practitioners to identify and address workers’ needs and challenges.
The initiative was launched during the Labour Research Conference on Thursday (Sep 26), which was attended by more than 500 union leaders, industry experts, government agencies and academics.
Its research will delve into themes such as productivity, the global economy, worker well-being and other emerging manpower trends.
The studies could help employees and the labour movement navigate an ever-evolving economic landscape and the rapid transformation of the workplace.
The experts will receive support in funding, and access to resources and data sharing.
NTUC said the initiative represents a milestone in its commitment to providing better wages, welfare, and work prospects for workers.
A MULTIDISCIPLINARY GROUP
Mr Patrick Tay, assistant secretary general at NTUC, said that by bringing people of different disciplines together, the community can better understand issues and promulgate findings and recommendations.
“Increasingly, many issues that workers and the workforce face are multidisciplinary and require different labour experts in different research areas,” he said.
“By pulling diverse expertise and perspectives, we can help each other identify blind spots, challenge assumptions and uncover deeper insights,” he added.
“We believe the sum is greater than its parts… by bringing everyone together, (we) have greater partnership, greater synergies. We want the findings and recommendations to positively impact the ground.”
Volunteers from the institutes of higher learning, think tanks and government research agencies will be part of the alliance.
Mr Tay added that even before the launch, many LAB members have already been working with NTUC on projects and research for years.
Dr Samuel Chng, a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities, is one such LAB member who has worked with NTUC on previous projects. He said academics interested in labor issues can sometimes be “a bit fragmented”, and the initiative helps to bring them into the same room.
“Bringing so many academics in… have a shared conversation, to build on the synergies of each other’s work… creates new possibilities for us to strengthen the whole ecosystem, to look at things from a different angle, albeit more holistically,” he said.
A RESILIENT WORKFORCE
Associate Professor Terence Ho from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore said one of the most important factors in today’s workforce is resilience.
Workers must stay employable by anticipating workplace challenges that may arise, be able to make smooth career transitions, and bounce back from setbacks such as a retrenchment, he told CNA’s Singapore Tonight.
Mr Tay added: “We want to help our workers stay ready, relevant and resilient.
“Through data-driven insights and evidence-based research, we’re able to come up with strategies and policies, even programmes or advocacy areas to help workers meet challenging environments, as well as (prepare them for) future needs.”
Prof Ho said that given the many significant changes in the world of work today, arising from technology and other driving forces such as an ageing workforce, there is a pressing need to bridge labour research and practice on the ground.
Through platforms such as seminars, workshops, dialogues and joint work groups, the academic community can work with stakeholders to design and test the innovations, he noted.
“They can contribute towards policy making and initiatives that are based on data and evidence, and translate the research findings and ideas to tangible impact by implementing them (in the workforce),” he added.
Mr Tay said: “This is a win-win outcome, where we can glean from their insights, and at the same time, the researchers will be able to see their work have ground impact.”
He added that the community of 50 experts is set to expand in the future, and is also open to working with regional and global partners.
