SINGAPORE — Retrenchment of unionised workers rose by 76 per cent last year, with 2,898 workers from the unionised sector displaced from their jobs compared to the 1,647 laid off in 2012, the labour movement said this morning (Jan 22).

The total number of workers who were retrenched up till the 3rd quarter of last year was 7,220. 

The manufacturing sector accounted for 91 per cent of these retrenchments due to companies moving their operations out of Singapore or shutting down production facilities here, among other reasons.

The labour movement added that about 200 workers in the electronics sector are expected to be retrenched in the first quarter of this year, during a briefing about how unionised companies have fared with regard to wages, retrenchment, job market and industrial relations cases in 2013.

With the labour market expected to remain tight, the movement said that workers in unionised companies can look forward to wage increases this year, as it continues to work for broad-based real wage increases.

Workers in unionised companies received better bonus and benefits last year, due to collective bargaining and the strong adoption of the National Wages Council guidelines.

The average basic wage increase for unionised companies last year was 4.25 per cent, comparable to 2012.

Unionised companies also saw better bonus payouts of an average of 3.63 months — inclusive of the 13th month bonus — last year, compared to 3.27 months in 2012.

Meanwhile, the labour movement saw 2,439 industrial relations cases last year, an increase of 16.6 per cent over the 2,092 cases in 2012. The increase was due to more individual grievance cases, which comprised over half of these cases.

Of these cases, 11.8 per cent were referred to the Manpower Ministry and the Industrial Arbitration Court, while the rest were handled at the union level.