Young Leaders Discuss Challenges of the Future at Youth Campus 2022

By Jaime Lee

Young union leaders across the island have joined hands and heads to discuss the future of young workers the needs of the workforce.

Some 66 youth leaders gathered at the Orchid Country Club on 21 May 2022 for the Youth Campus dialogue, organised by Young NTUC.

Participants were from unions representing the public, service, and industrial service sector.

For the first time ever, youth participants from NTUC U SME, NTUC Freelancers and Self-Employed Unit (U FSE) and U Associate joined the event this year.

NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng and Deputy Secretary-General Cham Hui Fong also joined the participants in a closed-door dialogue, where the youth leaders voiced their views on young workers’ needs, and the need to network.

Here are some takeaways from the participants of the Youth Campus dialogue.

Training Needs

Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority Workers’ Union (SURAWU) President and Young NTUC Chairperson April Tan touched on the challenges fresh graduates face when transitioning into adulthood and how the Labour Movement can help.

“We have resources like NTUC’s e2i and NTUC LearningHub. These are places that help with job opportunities. In addition, the May Day message this year revealed that we are launching a new task force, where we will look at a study and review the needs of young workers under the age of 25.”

National Transport Workers’ Union youth leader Kathir Selvam Chidpambaram spoke about how the Labour Movement stays relevant and connected to young workers, especially in unprecedented times.

“In this, NTUC is playing a very good part, not only in networking, but at the same time sustaining as the world progresses, they're also giving new opportunities. And they are doing more globalisation in order to nurture more.”

Broadening Perspectives, Broadening Job scopes

Singapore Shell Employees’ Union-Shell (SSEU-Shell) youth leader Justin Jethro spoke about how Youth Campus 2022 enabled other youth leaders to gain insights into the myriad of industries available.

“I think this is actually a great platform where you're able to connect with people, not just in your industry, but maybe in different companies. Or perhaps like an industry you've always been interested in, wanting to enter, but you don't actually know, the internal goings on how it's like, right? So, you're able to get real time feedback, how it's like, and I think that's pretty insightful.”

U SME youth leader Amrita Advani provided her perspective on the value of networking. 

“I work in human resources for retail, which I think is the closest to F&B. We face the same issues we have, we look for the same, I guess you could say it, we can approach the same pool, we look for the same pool to come. You know, so many of our teams are interchangeable. So, I guess I would, it would be great to talk to them and get pointers from them. And what they do is the team to hire and what can I do? What can I take from them to retain to hire?’’

Understanding a Changing Workforce

 U FSE youth leader Timothy Chan shared that more young workers are going into freelancing.

“The aspirations have shifted; people want more flexibility because income is not kept by a ceiling. Why are they shifting to the freelance scene as compared to a stable job? So, this is actually where we can have a discussion where can analyse as a whole, so that we are able to cover the sort of labour market for those essential sectors.”

Others shared the sentiment. U Associate youth leader Samantha Ng offers her insight to freelancing.

“As a freelancer, the chances of them getting loans in the future will be jeopardised. I think there are a lot of all these little things that people may not be aware of. This is where, how I see; today's session is a very good opportunity to really get to understand the various unions and association and see how we can potentially partner together or help each other along.”