ASIA NEWS

SINGAPORE

SINGAPORE CONSIDERS SHARED POOL OF PARENTAL LEAVE BETWEEN PARENTS

MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENTS (MPS) in Singapore are calling on the government to provide more parental leave, and a more equal split of such leave between mothers and fathers.

Specifically, Member of Parliament (MP) Louis Chia urged the government to adopt a shared parental care leave scheme that would offer parents a total of 24 weeks of government-paid leave, instead of the current 16-week maternity and two-week paternity leave entitlement.

This will result in a more equitable distribution of statutory parental leave and help reshape societal perceptions on gender roles, said the MP.

MALAYSIA

MALAYSIA PASSES BILL TO INCREASE MATERNITY LEAVE FROM 60 TO 98 DAYS

MALAYSIA HAS PASSED an employment bill that will oversee the increase in maternity leave from 60 to 98 days, in line with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention. The bill, according to Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Awang Hashim, will ensure women employees get enough rest and form strong bonds with their child.

“Besides that, it is to take care of the safety and health of women workers as well as the proper growth of children, and encouraging women’s participation in the labour market,” he added.

JAPAN

HITACHI JOINS JAPAN’S 4-DAY WORK WEEK DRIVE

EMPLOYEES OF JAPANESE

multinational conglomerate Hitachi can now change and organise their schedules so that they can choose to work only four days a week.

Describing this as a strategy to attract talent by offering a more flexible way of working, Hitachi says employees can now choose to work 9-10 hours between Monday and Thursday for example, instead of the current required 7 hours and 45 mins, in return for a day off on Friday.

Employees can also choose to work longer hours in the first half of the month and take some time off at the end of the month.

PHILIPPINES

GOVERNMENT CALLED TO UPSKILL AND RESKILL WORKERS IN THE PHILIPPINES

TO REDUCE JOB MISMATCHES, the government needs to have in place more training programmes so that workers can keep pace with digital transformation, said former defence secretary and Senate candidate Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro.

He added, “We need to prepare our workforce for the jobs of the future by upskilling and reskilling our employees to acquire new skills demanded by industries. Through training, we aim to bridge the gap and reduce job mismatch.

AUSTRALIA

UNIONS IN AUSTRALIA PUSH FOR 5% MINIMUM WAGE RAISE

UNIONS IN AUSTRALIA Unions in Australia will be pushing for a 5% increase in the minimum wage to A$21 (US$15.70) an hour this year, in hopes that this would help workers cope with the increase in living costs.

“A 5% increase is what is needed for Australian workers to keep their heads above water, with inflation and the cost of living rapidly rising”, said Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary Sally McManus.

The ACTU is pushing for the minimum wage rate to increase to A$21.35 (US$15.96) an hour, up from A$20.33 (US$15.22) an hour.

VIETNAM

VIETNAM RAISES THE NUMBER OF OVERTIME HOURS

VIETNAM’S NATIONAL

ASSEMBLY has passed a Resolution to increase overtime working hours from the current 40 hours to 60 hours per month.

The new regulations took from April 1 and will last till December 31 this year and came after a proposal by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) to increase the overtime cap due to the lack of labour at production sites and as businesses in the country recover from the pandemic.

The total number of overtime working hours will be capped at a maximum of 300 hours annually.