By Sue-Ann Chia, Senior Political Correspondent

SINGAPORE'S unions are embarking on a new course in battling the downturn, in a move to put the country in the lead for take-off when the global economy recovers.

They are going on the offensive to help companies tackle the longstanding problem of declining productivity.

In announcing the new focus yesterday, labour chief Lim Swee Say said: 'We must become cheaper not by cutting wages but by improving productivity.

'We have to be better by building new capabilities. We must become faster by being more flexible.'

Although he did not elaborate on his new call to be 'faster, better, cheaper', Mr Lim had in recent weeks spelt out how companies can help raise productivity.

These include improving their work processes by introducing new technology plus designing innovative products and services.

Other ways are to find new markets and generate more revenue from existing markets.

With the new strategy, unionists yesterday said they would add to the effort by getting workers to go for skills training.

Mr Lim's call to boost worker output reinforces Singapore's mission to reverse the decline in labour productivity since late 2007.

It dropped by 15.4 per cent in the first three months of this year compared to the same period last year.

Falling productivity led the Government to set up an inter-agency committee in February, to find ways to improve work processes in the services sector, where most locals are employed.

The panel is looking at productivity in three areas - hotels, retail and food & beverage.

Mr Lim spelt out the new offensive at an NTUC National Day observance ceremony, wrapping up a month-long series of events to mark Singapore's 44th birthday.

The approach is a departure from the defensive strategy the labour movement had adopted for the first half of this year, when the focus was on keeping a lid on layoffs and unemployment so that they would not exceed the peaks of past downturns in 2001 and 2003.

Using his by-now familiar football analogy, Mr Lim said: 'In the first half, we focused on the midfield to minimise retrenchment and defence to minimise unemployment.

'As we go into the second half, the only way to win is to focus on the offensive.'

The goal is to be faster and cheaper so that companies and workers emerge stronger and more competitive after the downturn, he added.

But Mr Lim was quick to caution unionists against any let-up in their efforts to minimise layoffs and job losses.

He said: 'The downturn is not over yet. We are at half-time now.'

Singapore's score against the global recession still stands at 1-1, he said, because the jobless rate is holding steady and has yet to decline.

The second-quarter rate was 3.3 per cent, unchanged from the first quarter, he noted.

However, this steady state is better than that in places such as the United States and Europe, where unemployment levels had worsened.

He credits Singapore's situation to government schemes that subsidise wage bills and worker training, and NTUC staff who coaxed companies to delay layoffs and cajoled workers into going for training.

Mr Lim, NTUC's secretary-general, also paid tribute to staff and unionists who went the extra mile in helping retrenched workers cope and find new jobs.

Eleven were held up as role models.

However, it is still too early to declare victory over the downturn, he said, while warning that a swift recovery would not be sustainable.

Looking ahead, Mr Lim foresees the need for the global economy to undergo structural changes in order to emerge stronger from the recession.

'This world will not come out of the recession in a sustainable manner, unless collectively, the economies of the world bite the bullet and make structural changes,' he said.

But, he added: 'We are not waiting for the rest of the world to make the changes. We want to make the changes ahead of the global economy.'

Called U-fighters, they are the labour movement's staff who help retrenched workers find jobs and work to raise their spirits. We profile two of 11 held up yesterday as role models.

MR KEVIN ONG, 32

SOMETIMES, his ears would hurt. Listening to workers venting for hours after losing their jobs was part of the daily routine for Mr Kevin Ong in February.

Some would even pop into his office in Jalan Besar to complain that 'they've had enough and can't take it anymore', recalled the industrial relations officer yesterday.

Most were production operators at a precision engineering company which was shutting down its production plant.

Many of the 300 staff are long-serving employees with little education, stricken with fear at having to find a new job for the first time in a long while.

'It was not easy,' said Mr Ong, of his first experience in handling layoffs - less than six months into the job. He had joined the Metal Industries Workers' Union last August.

What made his job tougher was that the company was in a poor financial position and could not pay much in retrenchment benefits.

The workers were also resistant to training for new jobs. To make them feel more comfortable, he persuaded the company to convert an old office into a classroom for courses to be held.

He also arranged for some courses to be conducted at a community centre near the company, and provided the workers with vouchers for free travel on public transport.

'The main thing is to help workers find a new job. We have to do whatever it takes,' he said.

MS SAMANTHA LIM, 25

THE e-mail stunned Ms Samantha Lim.

It was from a plastics manufacturing company, informing her that it would lay off 60 workers, one-third of its workforce, the following day.

'I couldn't believe it, that they gave us only one day's notice,' said Ms Lim, 25, an industrial relations officer at the Chemicals Industries Employees' Union.

The company had shown no signs that it was in financial difficulty.

It did not ask its staff to go on a shorter work week or take wage cuts, she added.

The one-day notice also went against its collective agreement with the union, in which it had provided for time for negotiations before any retrenchments.

As it was the first time the company was laying off workers in its 30 years here, Ms Lim 'gave them a chance', accepting that it did not know how to handle the situation.

She swung swiftly into action, setting up a meeting with the management to try and stop the layoffs or at least, to delay them.

But the management agreed only to split the layoffs into two phases: the first group of 40 were laid off on a Friday, as scheduled, while the remaining 20 were asked to go on Monday.

It also agreed to a meeting held between the two phases, on Saturday, at the Manpower Ministry.

This meeting was to iron out a retrenchment package and for union officials to stress to the company that giving such short notice is not acceptable.

Ms Lim coaxed the retrenched workers to attend training and even accompanied some of them to their courses.

One worker was so upset that Ms Lim went to her home at 10pm to answer her questions and calm her down.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.