Singapore's National Wages Council: An Insider's View (ePub)

Written by Emeritus Professor LIM Chong-Yah, Founding Chairman of the tripartite National Wages Council (NWC), this unique volume offers readers an insider's view of the genesis and the evolution of the wage determination mechanism and system in Singapore under the aegis of the NWC. As a tripartite body dealing with wages, wage policies and wage-related matters and promoting Growth with Equity, the NWC played a critical role in transforming industrial relations in Singapore from the then confrontational approach to that of mutual understanding, esprit de corps and social co-partnership. Drawing from his 30-year experience as NWC Chairman (1972–2001), Singapore's eminent Economics Professor shares with readers the important process and problems of seeking equitable wage increases through tripartite consensus based on a yearly national wage guideline system. The book also chronicles the role of the NWC in crisis management in 1974, 1985 and 1998, and in Economic Restructuring, 1979–1981. The structure and operation of this unique Singapore institution and the interesting problems of securing unanimity of support from the three tripartite partners are revealed in the book. Some important NWC personalities and their concerns and unique contributions are interestingly covered, anecdotally.

• Lectures and Articles on NWC:
  • Tripartism in Singapore: The Wage Guideline System
  • Industrial Relations, Economic Restructuring and Exportability of the NWC Model
  • Crises Management and External Assessments
  • Singapore and the World Economic Crisis
  • Economic Restructuring in Singapore
  • The NWC as I See It
  • The Concerns of the National Wages Council
  • NWC: Targets and Goals
  • NWC: The Politics of Consensus
  • NWC: Issues and Initiatives
  • A Decent Wage for a Decent Job
• Letters to the Prime Minister:
  • NWC's Recommendations on Countermeasures to 1974 Inflation Crisis: Letter to the Prime Minister on 8 May 1974
  • NWC's Recommendations on Economic Restructuring: Letters to the Prime Minister on 12 June 1979, 3 June 1980 and 13 May 1981
  • NWC's Recommendations on Countermeasures to 1985–1986 Recession Crisis: Letter to the Prime Minister on 21 April 1986
  • NWC's Recommendations on Countermeasures to 1998 Recession Crisis: Letter to the Prime Minister on 2 November 1998
• Awards and Commendations:
  • Awards
  • Dr Lee Boon Yang on Prof Lim Chong Yah
  • Mr Lim Boon Heng on Prof Lim Chong Yah
• My Personal Reflections as NWC Chairman:
  • Recollection and Reflections
• Two Special Lectures and a Postscript:
  • Does Singapore Need Economic Restructuring 2 or Another “Wage Revolution”?
  • Shock Therapy 2 Proposal Revisited
  • Postscript on Income Distribution, Economic Restructuring and Full Employment