Speech by Mr Bob Tan, Chairman, Tripartite Alliance Limited at Tripartite Connect 2025

7/24/2025 12:00:00 AMSpeeches

Minister of State for Manpower Mr Dinesh Vasu Dash,
Board Members of TAL, Chairman and Council Members of WSH Council,
and Committee Members of TAFEP,
Tripartite and Industry Partners,
Ladies and gentlemen.

    Introduction

1. Good morning and good to see so many of you here. I thought there was going to be a much smaller group particularly with SME leaders, since a Towkay’s time is money. So, thank you all for joining us today.
   
   
2. Today’s event is about workplace health and safety and progressive employment practices for developing sustainable businesses.
   
   
3. If you believe very strongly that people are at the centre of all our businesses, then it is important for us to keep our people safe and to have a motivated workforce, which means we must have fair and progressive employment practices.
   
   
4. This event is organised by the Tripartite Alliance Limited or TAL for short together with its agencies, WSH Council and TAFEP.
   
   
5. Many of you would be familiar with WSH Council and TAFEP but not necessarily with TAL. Though it operates behind the scenes, it plays a crucial role as the umbrella organisation responsible for spearheading tripartism in Singapore.
   
   About TAL & its Mission
   
   
6. Some years back, in 2016 and just before that, Mr Lim Swee Say at that time thought that there were so many tripartite activities taking place. As a result, it was important for us to try and put it under one umbrella so that we can coordinate and spearhead tripartism and institutionalise it in a way that can help Singapore and the Singapore workforce to thrive.
   
   
7. The organisation was formed by MOM, NTUC, and SNEF and the whole idea is to leverage upon their expertise and resources so that we can bring about progressive workplaces and the harmonious work relations within our workspace.
   
   
8. It currently has 3 agencies under its wing – WSH Council, TAFEP and TADM, which is the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management.
   1. Over the years, we have made much progress in raising greater awareness of health and safety in the workplace among the public and employees, with the help of the WSH Council. And programmes such as bizSAFE have been widely adopted and you can see that since its formation in 2008, the workplace fatality rate has reduced by almost 60% from 2.8 per 100,000 workers to 1.2 in 2024. Obviously, 1.2 is still too high and we have to work hard to make sure that our workplace is even safer.
      
      
   2. We have the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM), which helps employees and employers to resolve employment disputes. Some of them have to do with non-payment of wages for various reasons. Some of them have to do with contractual issues, and it is important to have a platform and forum for employers and employees to come together so that these issues can be resolved amicably. And TADM has been doing an extremely good job in this particular area. In 2023, more than 80% of employment disputes were resolved at TADM through mediation. And also, through mediation, we can ensure that both employers and employees to at least know their concerns have been properly addressed, rather than being left entirely on their own.
      
      
   3. The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) has been around for some time. Its purpose is to promote fair and progressive employment practices and to help employers implement them in a way that can prevent potential issues going forward. Over 20,000 organisations today have adopted various Tripartite Standards, which are a set of good employment practices developed by MOM, NTUC and SNEF and these Standards include areas such as grievance handling and recruitment practices, positively impacting about 1.48 million employees in Singapore.

   Why Tripartism matters to TAL’s mission
   
   

9. So why was TAL set up as a tripartite entity instead of being run by just one organisation like MOM, which has spearheaded many initiatives over the years? Why bring together the tripartite partners to do this?
   
   
10. If you look at the way we have progressed over the years in labour management relations and tripartism on a global scale, we have been recognised as a country that that is not only able to introduce the concept of tripartism here but also to make it work in practice.
    
    
11. And that's because over the years, we have resolved issues by coming together to discuss solutions at a macro level, rather than forcing a solution. We all know the outcomes we want, but how to address it is often very difficult to achieve.
    
    
12. Over the years, we've learned to try and work together, make compromises, find different ways of achieving the right outcome. And it is important for us to do that because if we are able to do it properly, it basically means that we will get an engaged workforce and engaged employers. Ultimately, the economy will benefit from that.
    
    
13. There are often many compromises that have to be made – for example, flexible work arrangements. Many employees would like to have flexible work arrangements to look after their parents or children, but this could be disruptive to employers. Therefore, it is important to work out a sensible framework and approach. Providing this template and framework for others can help and does help in many instances for us to increase productivity and at the same time make sure that our employees themselves continue to be committed to the organisation and do well.
    
    
14. So, I think the fact of the matter is that not only are we able to do things through this framework at the individual company level, but we have also been able to introduce legislation over time that does not create major issues for different groups of the population. For instance, the Workplace Fairness Act, the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices, and the Tripartite Guidelines on the Re-employment of Older Workers were all developed through extensive discussions, piloted to make sure they would work, and eventually introduced once consensus was reached among the tripartite partners.
    
    
15. Some of these were introduced as legislation because we know they would not cause major issues, while others remained as guidelines to enable our businesses to thrive in ways that are often difficult to implement in other countries. So, I think the importance of a safe workforce and progressive employment practices is something we can achieve far better as a tripartite group than if we attempted it individually.
    

    Tripartite Connect: Empowering SMEs
    
    

16. Today, we have the tripartite connect. I can see many SMEs here. The SME sector sometimes gets lost in our pursuit of what we think is best for the economy – mainly because the owners of small and medium-sized enterprises often lack the infrastructure to introduce institutionalised or formalised ways of doing things.
    
    
17. You're so busy trying to make ends meet and keep the business going that sometimes you miss the opportunity. By engaging you, bringing you on board, providing resources, and offering support, we hope to help you become a more responsible employer both in terms of safety and fair employment practices so that your business can thrive. So, I'm absolutely delighted to see many of you here today, and I hope we will see more of you over time as we continue to engage you.
    

    Empowering All to Co-Create a Safe, Healthy, and Progressive Workplace
    
    

18. Ultimately, we want to empower each of you co-create and lead workplaces that are safe, healthy, and progressive.
    
    
19. So, let’s work together as one so that we can succeed with people at the heart of its strategy.
    

    Closing
    
    

20. Once again, thank you for being here.
    
    
21. We invite you to contribute actively to Tripartite Connect – as we shape a safer, stronger, and more inclusive future of work together. Thank you.