SINGAPORE – Landscape maintenance workers will see their minimum basic wages rise by 6.3 per cent a year on average, over six years, after proposals by a tripartite committee on the landscape industry wage ladder were accepted by the Government on Friday (Aug 20).

The wage increases will take effect over six years from July 1 in 2023 to June 30 in 2029, and benefit more than 3,000 Singaporean and permanent resident landscape workers across 358 companies.

They are also more than double the 3 per cent annual wage increases announced in 2018, from previous recommendations to the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) for the industry.

The PWM is a ladder that sets out minimum pay and training requirements for workers at different skill levels.

The new set of wage increases were among further recommendations made by the Tripartite Cluster for Landscape Industry (TCL), which comprises representatives from the Government, unions, as well as landscape maintenance service providers and buyers. TCL made the latest proposals following another round of PWM reviews.

It is part of efforts to ensure that the wages in the industry increase along with the skills, productivity and job responsibilities of employees in the sector.

Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad told the media via web conference after a visit to Gardens By The Bay on Friday that there is a “new message” that comes with the revisions to the wage increases that are more than double what was previously recommended.

“We also want to say that the service buyers and consumers have also got a role to play. What’s changed is the confidence that we all have to carry this and look at how we can support this better,” Mr Zaqy said.

The TCL noted that besides pushing for higher wages and narrowing the income disparity of landscape workers with other workers, the aim is for Singaporeans to recognise the landscape industry as an important service sector.

Service buyers should recognise the value of workers so their wages can commensurate with their skills, while end-users and consumers such as park-goers should also acknowledge the work that goes into maintaining lush greenery, it said.

Consumers, such as condominium residents, should thus be prepared to bear some of the higher fees when it comes to maintaining the estate landscape, the TCL said.

Mr Zaqy noted that the earlier editions of the PWM were learning points, “a means for us to understand how it works”.

“Employers needed time as well to see how this impacts the business… in every sector, you can see how the different PWMs are now coming out,” he said.

“There are different levels of how we can optimise and work the wage increases. From the union side, they are looking at the workers angle, the employer side, they look at the industry and the business angle and see whether in six years’ time, these wages are able to be absorbed.”

The PWM has been a compulsory condition for landscape companies to be included in the Landscape Company Register since 2016.

Suppliers of landscape services are required to have two consecutive years of Landscape Company Register status in order to be awarded government contracts or to qualify for renewal.

Mr Zaqy noted that in other sectors that have implemented the PWM, such as cleaning and security, the proportion of local workforce increased when wages went up.

“They saw prospects and career progression,” he said.

An earlier recommendation put forth by the TCL in January this year was to introduce a specialist track under the PWM career ladder as part of efforts to professionalise the sector and to attract new and younger entrants.

Two new job roles – landscape specialist and senior landscape specialist – were introduced to encourage younger Singaporeans and PRs to consider joining the landscape industry.

On Friday, the TCL said these two new tracks would also take effect from 2023.

Mr Felix Loh, Singapore National Employers Federation deputy honorary secretary and Gardens by the Bay chief executive, noted the challenge of an ageing workforce in the industry, with the median age of landscape workers in Singapore at 50.

“The younger generation are more used to technology… we need to automate some operations (such as watering) to make it faster, to raise productivity, and some of these equipment, to operate them, you need higher skills,” he said.

A third recommendation to enhance mandatory training requirements across all landscape job roles from July 1 in 2023 was also accepted by the Government.

Each job role will require three mandatory Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) modules for progression under the PWM.

The Ministry of Manpower and the National Parks Board said in a joint statement on Friday that this will “ensure adequate training at each job level, and encourage employees to continually upskill as they progress in their careers”.

They called for service providers to continue to invest in skills training for a more productive workforce, for service buyers to adopt progressive contracting practices, and for employees to embrace upskilling.

“Together, our whole-of-society efforts will uplift our lower-wage workers,” they added.

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