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Speech at Centre for Domestic Employees May Day Celebrations 2025

Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Manpower Mr Shawn Huang, NTUC Centre

Foreign manpower

NTUC President Sister Thanaletchimi,

NTUC Deputy Secretary General Sister Hui Fong,

NTUC Central Committee members,

Advisor of USME and Migrant Workers Segment Brother Guat Kwang,

Director of Migrant Workers Segment Brother Michael,

Partners,

Brothers and sisters,


Introduction

  1. A very good afternoon. It is my pleasure to join our migrant domestic workers, employers and partners from NTUC at this May Day celebration organised by the Centre for Domestic Employees or CDE. Thank you, CDE, for the invitation.
  2. In line with the theme of today's celebration, “Together We Build, Together We Celebrate”, I would like to touch on three points to kick off the event: celebrating the contributions of our migrant domestic workers, building their skills, and building harmonious relationships between employers and migrant domestic workers.


    Appreciating the contributions of migrant domestic workers

  3. First of all, to our migrant domestic workers – thank you. Your work is at the heart of many homes in Singapore. Every day, you care for our children, support our elderly, and help run our households smoothly. You give peace of mind to working Singaporeans, enabling them to pursue their careers while knowing their loved ones are in safe hands. Many of you do so while being far away from your own families. Your sacrifice does not go unnoticed. As we celebrate May Day to appreciate the efforts of all workers, we would like to thank you for your hard work and contributions.


    Supporting and empowering migrant domestic workers

  4. Second, I would like to commend CDE for supporting and empowering our migrant domestic workers during their employment.
  5. At the CDE Connect Centres across the island, CDE conducts face-to-face interviews with migrant domestic workers who have newly arrived in Singapore. Relocating abroad to work can be very daunting. These interviews help to ensure that our migrant domestic workers settle into their new environments and have an avenue to seek advice if needed.
  6. CDE also provides counselling and mediation services for migrant domestic workers and their employers. This provides a safe space for workers to be supported, and allows disputes to be resolved fairly and amicably.
  7. Beyond this support, CDE empowers migrant domestic workers through upskilling to serve families under their care. To address the needs of Singapore’s rapidly ageing population, CDE partnered Healthcare Academy last year to train migrant domestic workers in eldercare skills. Building on this initiative, I am delighted to announce that CDE will sign two Memoranda of Understanding with the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan Cultural Academy and The Salvation Army to offer Basic Conversational Hokkien and Cantonese courses respectively. These language courses will complement the eldercare courses, enabling migrant domestic workers to better understand and respond to their elderly care recipients' needs.
  8. One such success story is Ms Evelyn Paracueles, who takes care of her employer’s 96-year-old father and 87-year-old mother with dementia. Evelyn proactively enrolled herself in the eldercare course under Healthcare Academy, with the support of her employer. She gained essential knowledge and hands-on skills in caregiving, such as the proper use of mobility aids. Evelyn shared that this has not only benefitted her employer’s household, but would also be valuable for her own elderly relatives in the future.
  9. I also want to recognise employers of migrant domestic workers for playing a pivotal role in supporting their training. Skills such as caregiving benefit not just households but society at large. In particular, improving workers' language skills is crucial to building better communications, understanding and empathy between migrant domestic workers and household members.


    Building harmonious relationships between migrant domestic workers and their employers

  10. This brings me to my third point – we must continue to prioritise the building of harmonious relationships between migrant domestic workers and their employers. Both parties play a role in this. Workers can contribute by carrying out their duties responsibly. Employers can create an environment of mutual respect to help workers feel safe and welcomed.
  11. Strong relationships take time and effort to nurture, especially when there are differences in backgrounds and cultures. Many households have reaped the benefits of building close relationships between employers and their migrant domestic workers through mutual understanding and trust – happier workers mean happier households! I hope we can continue seeing more of this in the years to come.


    Closing

  12. Finally, I would like to thank everyone here for being a part of this effort to support our migrant domestic workers and employers. Wishing all of you a joyful May Day celebration and a great year ahead!