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Hindustan Times
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Ludhiana: Restore Old Pension Scheme, demand government employees
The Old Pension Restoration Struggle Committee and Central Provident Fund (CPF) Employees Union on Thursday took to the streets of Ludhiana demanding the reinstatement of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). The flag march and a car rally organised by government employees had participation from several unions across Punjab Prabhjeet Singh Rasulpur, state press secretary of the committee, along with Jagjit Singh Maan from the Government Teachers' Union, revealed that although the Punjab government issued a notification two years ago promising to bring back the old pension scheme, there has been no implementation so far. This long delay has triggered frustration and anger among employees, especially those appointed after 2004. Rasulpur expressed disappointment with the state government, stating that government employees had pinned their hopes on the Aam Aadmi Party after it promised OPS restoration before coming to power. 'Forget fulfilling that promise, the government hasn't even acknowledged other legitimate demands of employees. Even after more than three and a half years, we are still on the roads,' he said. 'Instead of opening a dialogue, they are using the police force to silence us. Teachers and employees are being humiliated on the streets, turbans knocked off, scarves torn, this is nothing short of a human rights violation,' he added. Adding to the chaos, the rally blocked Phullanwal Chowk to Ferozepur Road for nearly 2 to 3 hours. Commuters were left stranded in long queues, and daily travel across the city turned into a nightmare. However, the protestors vowed to intensify their struggle until the government honours its promise and restores the old pension scheme in full. Unemployed teachers protest long-pending recruitment Unemployed teachers under the banner of ETT 5994 Unemployed Teachers Union Punjab took out a rally against the Punjab government and accused the state of turning a blind eye to their long-pending recruitment. The protesters revealed that the government had announced 5,994 vacancies under the Elementary Teacher Training (ETT) cadre nearly three years ago, but to date, only a partial list of 2,670 candidates has been released. The rest of the posts remain unfilled, leaving thousands in a state of uncertainty and frustration. Union leaders Surinder Pal from Gurdaspur, Mandeep from Fazilka, Ashok Kumar from Jalalabad, Surinder from Abohar, Ajit from Mansa, and Vishal Kumar from Abohar jointly said that they have repeatedly sought answers from the education minister, but every meeting ends in disappointment. 'The department fails to provide any clear or satisfactory answer. This neglect has pushed us to the brink mentally and emotionally,' they added. 'If the remaining lists are not released soon, we will be forced to take harsher steps. And if any harm comes to life or property during the struggle, the responsibility will lie with the Punjab government,' warned the union. Adarsh School staff protest, demand meeting with CM Mann Hundreds of teachers and non-teaching staff from Adarsh Schools across Punjab hold a protest rally, slamming the state government for neglecting their long-pending demands. The members of the Adarsh School Teaching and Non-Teaching Employees Union expressed deep frustration over Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann's refusal to meet the union even once during his tenure. 'When Mann was an MP, he praised Adarsh Schools and called teachers the form of God on stage. Now it's been over three years since his government came to power, and he hasn't spared even a moment to listen to us,' said state president Jasvir Singh Galoti. The leaders pointed out that the teachers of these schools continue to suffer without basic support. They alleged that the education department is treating them with step-motherly behaviour and their repeated efforts to meet ministers have gone unanswered. 'Despite meeting every minister possible, not a single message of relief has come,' added union member Sukhdeep Kaur. The protesters, blocking roads at Gol Chowk, raised loud slogans against the government and urged the public to hold the ruling party accountable for its false promises. 'It's time the people show this government that just as they can vote someone in, they can vote them out too,' the protesters said. SDM Poonampreet assured the union that an official request for a meeting with the chief minister would be sent by Friday. The union vowed to continue its struggle until their voices are heard.
CNA
12-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- CNA
Commentary: Why we still need proposals even after we've booked the BTO
SINGAPORE: By now, the phrase 'BTO first, propose later' is more than a rite of passage for young Singaporeans. It's practically become unwritten law. The sequence is familiar. You apply for a Build-To-Order (BTO) flat, cross your fingers and wait – sometimes for months, often for years. With any luck, you get a queue number under 2,000 and can start fantasising about interior themes and whose parents you'll live near. Then, and only then, comes the engagement. It makes sense that in land-scarce, population-dense Singapore, housing is arguably a bigger commitment than marriage. You're not just changing your marital status – you're locking in a 25-year mortgage and syncing your Central Provident Fund contributions for the next few decades. In that light, the proposal starts to feel... well, almost redundant. The life plan is in motion. You've chosen each other, chosen your Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat, and probably even chosen your laminated flooring. Why get down on one knee at all? And yet, even with wedding dates pencilled in and renovation spreadsheets bloated with tabs, the big, romantic proposals still come. Sunset drone shots; picnic setups that could rival the average Garden by the Bay installations; friends crouched behind bushes like wildlife photographers. There's a whole genre of TikTok content built around choreographed 'will you marry me' surprises that aren't actually surprises. If we already know how the story ends, why bother with the spectacle? THE BUREAUCRATISATION OF LOVE Part of the answer lies in the uniquely Singaporean tension between efficiency and intimacy. This is a country that has elevated pragmatism from philosophy to policy. Lacking natural resources, we invest in knowledge industries, education and workforce training. We map out career moves based on bonus cycles and promotion timelines, and plan pregnancies around parental leave allowances and baby bonuses. Nearly every aspect of our lives is so efficiently structured that romance, too, has adapted. Singaporean love is rarely spontaneous; it is scheduled, strategised, and synced to government timelines and BTO launches. The HDB Hub in Toa Payoh has become its own kind of romantic landmark, with couples posing with flat application forms like they're love letters. A romantic relationship here has become less of a private affair and more of a public declaration of mutual planning. When young adults get into serious relationships, their friends don't ask them 'Are you thinking of marriage?' – instead, the question is more often 'Are you thinking of BTO?' But here's the twist: In a city that so thoroughly systematises life, Singaporeans haven't given up on romance. If anything, we've become even more deliberate about it. Among our own friends, my partner and I seem to be in the minority – we got engaged before we secured housing, a luxury we don't take for granted. However, we'd already lived together while studying in the UK and had plenty of honest conversations about finances, family, and the kind of life we wanted to build. So while the proposal came first, it wasn't some grand, romantic leap. It was the next step in a relationship already grounded in pragmatism and shared family values. The Singaporean proposal, in this context, becomes less about asking an actual question and more about marking meaning. It's a gesture of emotional agency. It's one small avenue through which young Singaporeans reclaim sentimental meaning in a culture where major life arcs and events have been pre-mapped by bureaucracy. Yes, love has been admin-ed to death – but in small moments like the proposal, we can try to breathe some life back into it. THE NEED TO BE SEEN AND HEARD Ever experienced a period in your life where it seemed like all your friends were getting married, buying housing or having babies, and you found yourself having an unexpectedly emotional reaction? It's called 'wedding contagion', a phenomenon that reveals how the act of being observed changes how people behave, wrote Stephen Bush for the Financial Times. It manifests in the form of an emotional margin call: Suddenly, we feel prompted to re-evaluate our own paths and journeys. In anthropology, the term 'social rituals' describes symbolic, performative activities or actions that publicly affirm identity, belonging and transitions. Think weddings, graduation ceremonies, even National Day parades. They're milestones that help us signal identity, life stage and emotional intent. These rituals offer a kind of cultural shorthand. When you're promoted, people ask about salary or key performance indicators. When you're engaged, everyone squeals, hugs, congratulates, maybe asks to see the ring. The ritual of the proposal delivers a form of shared, social clarity – a way to be understood across social lines. In a time of fragmented norms and constant change, that legibility still matters. It makes sense that in a world where everyone is watching (online, offline, and in the haze of social comparison), we create public rituals to both process our private choices as well as prove them to others – both things that can be done on our own terms. WRITE YOUR OWN RULES Of course, not everyone has the means (or the desire) to stage a picture-perfect proposal. Not every relationship fits neatly into the public-private dichotomy. And for some, the idea of a proposal feels outdated – a relic from a time when marriage was less of a partnership and more of a transaction. There's also something quietly radical in choosing not to perform your love for others. In a culture where so many moments are built for display, opting out can be a statement in itself. But in a society where so much of life feels mapped out in neat, bureaucratic stages, ritual gives us back something we're secretly craving: The illusion of spontaneity, the comfort of choice. But even if we'll never really get to 'till death do us part' heights of romance, maybe it's not so bad settling for 'till lease expiry do us part'. Even with love on a 99-year term, is there still any real value to asking The Question? Sure, these days proposals can be hyper-curated, filtered to Instagram perfection, even aestheticised to death. But dismissing them as hollow misses the point entirely. To be seen in joy – to share it, perform it and hold onto that moment with the people you love – that's its own kind of intimacy. It's about shared experience, not just spectacle. Maybe that's why the proposal sticks around, long after the paperwork's signed and the renovation quotes pile up. Because deep down, even the most pragmatic of us will always be, at least in some small part, sentimental romantics hoping for a love story told on our own terms.
Business Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Singapore's real wages rise at faster rate of 3.2% in 2024; more firms give salary bumps: MOM
[SINGAPORE] Real wage growth in Singapore rose at a faster pace of 3.2 per cent in 2024 as nominal wage growth outpaced inflation, data from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) showed on Wednesday (May 28). Lower headline inflation of 2.4 per cent in 2024, compared with 4.8 per cent in 2023, meant that 2024's real wage growth was higher than the 0.4 per cent recorded the year before and the highest since Covid-19, stated the ministry's latest wage practices report. This was while the proportion of firms that gave wage increases to their staff rose in 2024, even though the proportion of profitable businesses declined slightly from the year before. Nominal wages of full-time resident employees who had been with the same employer for at least a year increased 5.6 per cent. This figure included employer Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions. This was a nudge higher than the 5.2 per cent nominal wage growth seen in 2023. 'Looking ahead, we expect wage growth this year to moderate,' said Ang Boon Heng, director of MOM's manpower research and statistics department, in a briefing for reporters. 'It's not going to be news because we know that times are uncertain.' BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Even though there has been a slight improvement in Singapore's growth outlook in recent weeks, due to de-escalation of US-China trade tariffs, MOM still expects wage growth to moderate in 2025, added Ang. Nominal wage growth is expected to moderate, especially in trade-reliant sectors such as manufacturing and wholesale trade, the ministry said in its annual report. Still, the moderation in wage growth is not expected to be significant, noted Ang, given that the labour market remains tight, as well as with strong labour demand in certain sectors, such as consulting, and health and social services. The ministry's forward-looking survey, conducted in the first quarter of 2025, showed that a smaller proportion of firms plan to give wage increases to their employees. Rank-and-file employees (5.8 per cent) and junior management (5.6 per cent) had slightly higher wage increases than senior management (5.1 per cent), partly reflecting efforts to offset cost-of-living pressures, said MOM. It added that policy factors, such as increases in the local qualifying salary and the implementation of Progressive Wage Model initiatives, contributed to the uplift in wages of lower-income employees. 'The increase in wages of lower-income employees did not have a significant impact on cost competitiveness, as they only form a very small component of total business costs,' said MOM. Sectoral wages In 2024, all industries continued to experience wage growth, though the rate of increase across sectors varied, MOM said. The financial services (6.7 per cent) and community, social and personal services (5.7 per cent) sectors had above-average wage gains as demand for skilled workers continued. Meanwhile, the administrative and support services had the highest wage growth of 8.7 per cent, reflecting the impact of the Progressive Wage Model, said MOM. In contrast, the food and beverage (4.8 per cent), wholesale trade (4.2 per cent) and manufacturing (5.1 per cent) sectors had below-average wage growth. Wage increases in the latter two sectors are expected to moderate this year given ongoing geopolitical and trade tensions. In 2024, the proportion of firms that raised their staff's salaries rose to 78.3 per cent, from 65.6 per cent the year prior. MOM noted, however, that this was due to firms' past organisational performance, rather than forward-looking confidence. Meanwhile, the proportion of businesses that reported they were profitable dipped to 80.8 per cent, from 82.1 per cent previously. Profitability varied across industries, with the real estate services and wholesale trade sectors seeing fewer profitable businesses. In contrast, manufacturing had an increase in profitable firms, but this is expected to decline in the coming year due to global trade tensions. Firms that cut wages remained in the minority at 3.2 per cent, while 18.5 per cent of businesses left salaries unchanged. Flexible-wage system Over the past decade, there has been a gradual decline in the proportion of companies which has implemented at least one flexible-wage system, said MOM. This refers to either the monthly variable component and the annual variable component, or both. Only 8.5 per cent of firms have adopted both systems, while the prevalence of variable wages in the private sector firms was also low at 14.9 per cent. 'Establishments that have implemented at least one flexible-wage system component were more likely to have given wage increases by using the variable wage components,' said MOM. A majority of companies adopt the annual variable component, the ministry noted. Firms are also not adopting the monthly variable component, either due to a lack of awareness or because other firms in their industries do not have a practice of adopting it in their wage structure.
Straits Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Over 1,000 job seekers can start earning points to qualify for payouts
More than 1,000 applicants have already been approved, noted WSG, without revealing the total number of applications. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO FILE Over 1,000 job seekers can start earning points to qualify for payouts SINGAPORE – There has been a solid take-up rate for the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support (JS) scheme launched on April 15. More than 1,000 applicants have already been approved, noted Workforce Singapore (WSG), without revealing the total number of applications. The resident unemployment rate came in at 2.9 per cent in the first quarter, up slightly from 2.8 per cent in December 2024. Successful applicants in the scheme can receive up to $1,500 in the first month, $1,250 in the second, $1,000 in the third and then $750 a month for the remaining three months. The payouts are capped at a job seeker's past average gross monthly income. So if the person earned an average of $900 a month, the monthly payout under the scheme will not exceed that amount. Applicants must earn at least 10 points a month for the first three months and five points a month for the next three months to remain in the scheme, which is open to lower- and middle-income adult Singaporeans who have lost jobs their due to retrenchment, business closure, illness or other reasons beyond their control. Points can be earned by completing some of these activities: Plan a career path using WSG's CareersFinder tool Browse or subscribe to career-related content Update resume online Attend a career coaching session or a career-related event, workshop or seminar Network with an industry professional Complete a skills and training advisory or attend the SkillsFuture Advice workshop Points for each activity differ, with those requiring more time and commitment worth more. Proper documents needed Applicants must submit documentation showing they were involuntarily unemployed by their previous company, said WSG. Job seekers from age 21 who have been unemployed for at least one month from the last day of employment can apply. They must also have been employed in Singapore for at least six months in the past 12 months, but a one-off concession is given to those who lost their jobs on or after April 1, 2024 – if they meet all other criteria and submit their applications by June 15. They must also have earned $5,000 or less a month on average for the duration of their previous employment within the last 12 months. They cannot live in a property with an annual value of more than $31,000. The annual value of a property is the estimated gross annual rent if it were to be rented out. 'This could be in the form of formal termination letters or e-mail exchanges (showing) the ending of employment was initiated by the employer,' said a WSG spokesperson. Resignation letters, payslips or a Central Provident Fund transaction history without supporting evidence of involuntary unemployment are 'insufficient' for approval. Employers are encouraged to provide valid correspondence to former employees and to respond promptly to WSG requests for clarifications when receiving applications from job seekers. Ms Syikin (not her real name), is participating in the scheme. She has been undertaking job search activities and racked up 10 points in the first month by attending career events for networking purposes and exploring job opportunities. She is now waiting for a payout of up to $1,500. Ms Dyana Nusantry Jumadi, a successful applicant who had started attending career coaching sessions with a WSG coach, has just secured a job at a built environment company. When she was retrenched in July 2024, she began to apply for a new job, but to no avail. She took on several Workforce Skills Qualifications courses to upgrade herself and was referred to NTUC's e2i's career coach by her social worker in February 2025 before applying to the JS scheme in April. While she has started completing job search activities and clocking points, she was not eligible for the payout as she had already landed a job. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
New Paper
22-05-2025
- Business
- New Paper
Interest rate on CPF Special, MediSave and Retirement accounts remains at 4% for Q3 2025
The interest rate on the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Special, MediSave and Retirement accounts (SMRA) will remain unchanged at 4 per cent from July to September 2025. Savings in these accounts will earn the floor rate of 4 per cent a year in the third quarter, as the SMRA pegged rate remains below the floor rate, according to a joint statement by the CPF Board and Housing Board on May 22. The interest rate is pegged to the 12-month average yield of the 10-year Singapore Government Securities, plus 1 per cent. The interest rates for the Ordinary Account and for HDB housing loans remain unchanged at 2.5 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively. CPF members below 55 years old will continue to earn an extra 1 per cent interest on the first $60,000 of their combined account balances, capped at $20,000 for the Ordinary Account. Those aged 55 and above will continue to earn an extra 2 per cent interest on the first $30,000 of their combined balances, capped at $20,000 for the Ordinary Account, and an extra 1 per cent on the next $30,000. The extra interest earned on the Ordinary Account will go into a member's Special Account or Retirement Account, said the statement.
