Suntec retrenches 85 employees

Affected staff will receive a month’s salary for every year of service as severance payment.

Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre (Suntec Singapore) has announced that they have retrenched 85 of their employees. The announcement came during a time when the meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) industry has been harshly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The retrenchment decision was made after a deliberation with the Building Construction and Timber Industries Employees' Union (BATU). Of the 85 retrenched staff, 60 are locals and 25 are non-locals.

CEO Arun Madhok has said that the decision does not reflect the performance of any staff, and that he was ‘truly sorry’ for the impact. Suntec will remunerate affected staff with a month’s salary for every year of service, and those eligible staff will also be paid their pro-rated Annual Wage Supplement for the year and be allowed to encash their remaining annual leave entitlements.

Local staff will receive assistance from the Job Security Council (JSC) of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) to be matched with suitable jobs based on their skills and experience. So far, every affected local employee has been matched to at least two job opportunities.

BATU and NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute (E2I) will also assist the affected staff in the job application and provide counselling where necessary. Suntec has also given BATU a one-off training grant of $25,000 to aid affected union members to upskill or reskill for new jobs.