Industrial Relations Climate in the Manufacturing Sector in Singapore

The objective of this study is to assess the state of workplace industrial relations climate in the manufacturing sector in Singapore. Based on a survey of 73 manufacturing companies in Singapore and subsequent intensive study of eight of them, it was found that the overall labor-management relations in the industry were good and had improved over the past few years. Union membership was reported to have increased and this was accompanied by a perceived increase in union role and influence on labor-management relations. The findings also highlighted the need to strengthen the communication processes among the three parties—workers, unionists and management.