MORE than 900 workers from the electronics industry have been retrenched in the first quarter of this year, more than half of such workers laid off last year.

And the union expects more to come - a projection in light of an uncertain global economy which is in part due to the financial crises in the United States.

Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), Madam Halimah Yacob revealed this to reporters at a United Workers of Electronic and Electrical Industries (UWEEI) event on Thursday afternoon.

Madam Halimah, who is also the Executive Secretary for UWEEI, urged companies to inform the union early of restructuring plans which could affect worker's jobs.

A Manpower Ministry's employment situation report which was released on April 30, said that 2,000 retrenchments across industries for the first quarter of the year.

This is similar to figures in the same period for the last two years.

Most of the retrenchments were from the Manufacturing and electronics industry.

Despite the uncertainty, Singapore's more buoyant sectors such as tourism, construction and marine engineering is expected to buffer Singapore from the effects of a possible US recession.

This was brought up by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during his May Day Rally Speech, where he stressed that the economy is still on track to grow by 4 per cent to 6 per cent this year.