Cases Referred for Conciliation due to Refusal of Unionised Companies to Enter into Collective Agreement

18 Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for Manpower in the last five years (a) what is the total number of cases referred to the Ministry by unions for conciliation because the unionised companies have refused to enter into a Collective Agreement; and (b) how many of these cases are (i) eventually escalated to the Industrial Arbitration Court and (ii) referred for conciliation or arbitration and managed to have the company agreeing to enter into a Collective Agreement.

Dr Tan See Leng: Over the past five years, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) received a total of eight cases over whether to enter into a Collective Agreement (CA). For four of the cases, following MOM's conciliation with the companies and unions to explain the roles and responsibilities of entering into a CA, they agreed to continue with bilateral discussions. The remaining four cases were withdrawn before MOM's conciliation. Parties can seek MOM's further assistance if required. None of the eight cases had to be escalated to the Industrial Arbitration Court for arbitration.