President Halimah to honour ‘behind-the-scenes’ workers
A new initiative will be launched to show appreciation to workers who have toiled quietly to contribute to Singapore's growth, President Halimah Yacob said yesterday.
"The idea is there are a lot of workers doing a lot of work behind the scenes and people don't see them, people don't know about them, but they are quietly contributing strongly to Singapore and Singaporeans' welfare," she told media at the Istana. "I would like to... embrace our workers, give them the support, give them appreciation, because Singapore's growth and development is possible only because our workers... have contributed to it significantly."
Madam Halimah, who had been with the labour movement for some 30 years, has been meeting workers in the healthcare, transport and social work sectors since becoming president in 2017. The initiative will be an expansion of the sessions, she said.
Madam Halimah announced this after a dialogue at the Istana with union leaders from the industrial unions as well as National Trades Union Congress secretary-general Ng Chee Meng.
She told reporters they discussed issues such as how globalisation, technological changes and the US-China trade war can affect livelihoods.
"Generally, the mood is very positive because they can still see that there are jobs created," said Madam Halimah.
"They also understand there is a strong pipeline of investments that we have because Singapore, as a country, is still very much valued for its opportunities that we provide to investors."
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