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Written Answer by Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister for Manpower, to Parliamentary Question on collective agreements

Employment practices

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1286 OF 2018 FOR THE SITTING ON 06 AUGUST 2018

QUESTION NO. 949 FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

MP: Mr Leon Perera

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what proportion of registered trade unions have agreed with employers not to initiate collective agreement negotiations; and (b) how has this proportion changed over the past five years.

Answer

  1. There are about 1,700 unionised companies in Singapore, of which about two-thirds have registered Collective Agreements (CAs) with the Industrial Arbitration Court.
  2. A CA is a formal and enforceable agreement between the union and the employer on the affected employees’ terms and conditions of employment. Whether or not a CA should be put in place is a matter for the union and employer to decide on mutually. In lieu of a CA, it is not uncommon to have less formal arrangements like a memorandum of understanding on areas of cooperation. This could be a more practical approach for some companies, for example, those with a small workforce.