Workers at Prima filling up bags of flour in their factory. -- ST PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANG
AT 72, ELECTRICAL engineer Sik Sing still keeps the flour-making machines humming at flour manufacturer Prima Limited. And when his wife Chye Moey turned 62 last year, the company asked her to stay on as a packing machine operator on a yearly contract instead of retiring.
The couple are beneficiaries of Prima's longstanding re-employment policy, which chief executive officer Primus Cheng said was one which valued the loyalty, experience and contributions of older employees.
The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) - which wants to see more companies keep older workers on the job - on Friday cited Prima as a model. It noted that Prima's re-employment offer to those who reach retirement age pre-dates the national effort which began more than three years ago.
At Prima Limited, 23 employees in its 252-strong workforce were re-employed after reaching the retirement age of 62.
NTUC deputy secretary-general Heng Chee How, who visited Prima Limited's flour-milling factory at Keppel Road on Friday, said there has been no let-up in efforts by the labour movement to get all 1,200 unionised companies to adopt re-employment practices before January 2012.
That is when a law requiring employers to re-hire workers beyond the retirement age of 62 is due to be introduced.
He told reporters that as at the end of last month, 747 unionised companies had adopted re-employment practices - up from 565 a year ago.
More older workers were also being re-employed in unionised firms. Latest figures showed that at the end of last month there were 5,421 such workers - up from 4,639 a year ago.
Re-employment practices were also becoming more established, said Mr Heng, who was accompanied on his visit by NTUC secretary-general Lim Swee Say and other union leaders.
Companies that re-hire older workers in an ad hoc fashion were realising that they must be more systematic and plan for re-training well ahead of employees reaching retirement. This is so they can cope with the wave of babyboomers who will be turning 62 in the coming years.
Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times
