How NTUC became Singapore’s anchor for workers in times of crisis

When crisis strikes, few organisations respond with the speed and scale of Singapore’s Labour Movement. Time and again, the NTUC has emerged as a quiet yet crucial stabiliser: shielding workers, supporting companies, and steering the nation through some of its most turbulent economic moments.

From the financial shocks of the late 1990s to today’s shifting global trade landscape, NTUC’s consistent, hands-on approach has helped cushion the blow for workers, while reinforcing Singapore’s social and economic resilience.

The Asian Financial Crisis: Building confidence in hard choices

In 1997, as the Asian Financial Crisis spread across the region, Singapore’s economy teeUpturning The Downturn presentation: Dialogue with union leaders on the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR) on 11 December 2008.tered. Unemployment spiked, doubling from around 34,800 in 1997 to 62,800 the following year.

To avert a deeper recession, the Government launched sweeping cost-cutting measures. NTUC stepped in to negotiate wage restructuring with employers, including temporary wage cuts and reductions in Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions. It was a painful pill, but the union’s presence gave workers reassurance that the decisions were neither arbitrary nor permanent.

This showed how close cooperation between Government, employers, and unions could make hard decisions more bearable. Workers trusted the process because NTUC was involved.

NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Seng Han Thong handing out SARS care kits on 19 May 2002.

SARS: Saving jobs amid a health emergency

The 2003 SARS outbreak crippled sectors like tourism, aviation, and healthcare. The fear was not just medical—it was financial.

Rather than allowing mass layoffs, NTUC advocated cost-saving alternatives such as shorter work weeks, no-pay leave, and internal redeployments. Union leaders were dispatched across affected sectors, reassuring anxious workers and connecting them to relief channels.

Behind the scenes, job fairs and job matching services were ramped up to to help displaced workers pivot quickly, long before “resilience” became a policy buzzword.

Upturning The Downturn presentation: Dialogue with union leaders on the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR) on 11 December 2008.

Global Financial Crisis: Reskilling on the Run

By late 2008, Singapore faced another global storm. The collapse of major financial institutions worldwide threatened jobs across industries.

To stem the tide, the Government rolled out the Jobs Credit Scheme, providing wage subsidies to firms that retained workers. NTUC worked closely with employers to ensure uptake, turning policy into practice.

But it didn’t stop there. Together with its training arm, NTUC LearningHub, NTUC launched the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR), offering generous training subsidies to help workers upskill, or even shift careers, during downtime.

NTUC also collaborated closely with unionised companies to negotiate alternative measures to retrenchment, such as redeployment or temporary pay adjustments.

NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng (far left) at the SGUnited Job Fair in 2020.

COVID-19: A Labour Movement reinvented

The pandemic of 2020 brought with it perhaps the most complex challenge yet: mass unemployment, lockdowns, and a rapidly changing world of work.

NTUC responded on multiple fronts. Through the SGUnited Jobs and Skills initiative, NTUC LearningHub and NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) helped place jobseekers into temporary roles and training programmes.

Virtual career fairs, resume clinics, and skills workshops ensured help remained accessible even under movement restrictions.

NTUC also moved swiftly to form the NTUC Job Security Council, in an unprecedented effort to redeploy workers from battered industries like aviation and retail to growing sectors such as healthcare.

Support was both practical and financial. NTUC also administered the Government’s Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS) and introduced the NTUC Care Fund (COVID-19) to directly assist members hit hardest by the pandemic.

NTUC representing workers in the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce (SERT).

Navigating trade uncertainties and the United States tariffs

More recently, a fresh wave of economic uncertainty emerged in April 2025, when U.S. President Donald Trump imposed broad tariffs on trading partners. Singapore responded with the formation of the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce (SERT), where NTUC again took its place at the table.

SERT has since launched a Business Adaptation Grant to help companies adjust to the evolving trade landscape. Meanwhile, NTUC and e2i are expanding guidance services for jobseekers.

On 15 April 2025, Trade and Industry (MTI) Minister and SERT Chair Gan Kim Yong said that Singapore cannot rule out the possibility of a recession.

NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng, who is part of the taskforce, said that NTUC stands ready to help workers in job transitions or in the event of possible retrenchments.

A proven model for the future

NTUC’s playbook has remained remarkably consistent: intervene early, support jobs, reskill workers, and maintain public confidence through tripartite trust.

What sets Singapore apart isn’t just its policy agility but the tripartite partnership between Government, unions and employers that makes swift action possible. And at the heart of it all, NTUC has evolved into more than just a congress of trade unions. It has become a national stabiliser.

As the world braces for future disruptions, from artificial intelligence to geopolitical conflict, NTUC will remain a force for economic calm.

NTUC stands ready to protect workers. Become an NTUC member today.