» Parliament and Budget Re-employment age set to rise to 67 . BY LIM YI HAN LDER workers may soon get the chance to vwork till 67 years old, giving their savings for retirement a boost. The tripartite partners - the Government, unions and employ- ‘ers— have agreed to work on ex- tending the re-employment age for workers from 65 to 67, said Senior Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Heng Chee How on the first day of the Budget debate yesterday. “Mr Heng, who is also the depu- ty secretary-general of the Nation- al Trades Union Congress (NTUC), said: “With life expect- ancy continuing to rise, 1 firmly believe that the re-employment age ceiling need not and cannot stagnate at 65.” ‘Currently, Singapore's statuto- ry minimum retirement age is 62, but employers have to offer «re-employment to those eligible up to age 65. Mr Heng also wants workers to be able to work for as long as they can and pushed for a ramp-up of workplace health practices to protect them “against premature loss of employability and employment” He said that jobs that need ‘workers to stay on their feet, or use their joints often, or sectors that hire senior workers, should be targeted to ensure that work- ers “maintain a level of health that can allow them to carry on contributing”. ‘Onthe other hand, Dr Lam Pin Min (Sengkang West) suggested abolishing the retirement age alto- gether, and instead continuing to pay older workers based on their performance and contribution. [MORE SILVER WORKERS: cass at the Centre for Seniors to prepare workers for re-employment. The Goverment, unions and employers have aprad to work on extending the re-employment age for workers from 65 to 67. PHOTO: THE STRAITS TMES He said: “We need to ensure that, in other areas, the elderly can ‘still participate meaningfully in society..The non-monetary as- pects of growing old must not be neglected and the Government can do more to help them.” Meanwhile, other labour is- sues were thrown up during the Budget debate. Mr Zainal Sapari (Pasir Ris-Pungzol GRC) called for more help for low-wage work- ers in the form of a fund to tide them over in cas® their companies go bust. Workers tend not to get paid when a firm folds. He also asked for the National Wages Council's (NWC's) recom- mendations for low-wage work. ers to be made mandatory for all companies, ‘The NWC’s recommendations included a pay rise of a least $60 a ‘month for workers earning up to {$1,000 last year. Firms were left to choose to implement them, or not. Nominated MP Teo Siong Seng, immediate past president of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, asked for more governmeat support for mi- cro-enterprises and traditional in- dustres, such as bakeries, noodle factories and tenlage companies. “Currently, these traditional in- dustris face @ numberof problems the inability to find successors, shrinking markets, rising rentals and increasing manpower costs,” hae sain Mandsrin. limyihan@:ph.com.sg