Singapore Oil Unions Lobby for Statutory Retirement Coverage

In Singapore, a coalition of oil workers’ unions has petitioned the government for inclusion into the Retirement Age Act, which would allow 500 workers to retire at mandatory age 62 instead of the current lower age. An appeal by the group was made to Singapore’s Manpower Ministry last week to abolish some of the 26 job categories that are exempt under the law.

The coalition includes ICEM affiliate Singapore Shell Employees’ Union, the ExxonMobil Singapore Employees Union (ESEU), Singapore Refining Company Employees’ Union (SRCUE), and the United Workers of Petroleum Industry (UWPI), which represents BP, Chevron, and Singapore Refining staff.

Singapore is attempting to revise provisions in its 1993 Retirement Age Act before a new employment law passes in 2012. The original retirement age in the 1993 statute was 60. In 1999, it was raised to 62.

But the law still excludes teachers, pilots, doctors, civil servants, police, soldiers, and other job categories. It also excludes jobs governed by a ministry in which age in occupation is a consideration regarding safety and other reasons. That includes many jobs inside refineries.

Workers affected by the exemption must retire at an age negotiated between workers’ organisations and enterprises at the time the law took effect, 1993. For those in the city-nation’s important oil sector, that age is between 55 and 60.

The effort by the oil workers’ unions to win Retirement Age Act jurisdiction for refinery workers has been endorsed by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) of Singapore. Many here feel that in a tight labour market, with higher year-to-year living costs and higher life expectancies, working longer can be beneficial both to workers and to enterprises, the latter benefitting by retention of talent and experience.