Tripartism in Singapore

Explain Like I’m Five

Think of three sides discussing working life together: the government, employers and unions representing workers. Each brings a different perspective to questions about jobs, skills and workplace practices. Tripartism names this collaboration, rather than a single organisation.

Where You’ll Run Into It

In Singapore discussions about worker training, workplace fairness or relations between employers and unions. The national partners are the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) for government, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) for the labour movement, and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) for employers.

Tripartite guidelines also appear in discussions of retrenchment or wrongful-dismissal disputes. The Employment Claims Tribunals have a separate role deciding covered disputes; tripartism names the partnership.

Example

“This workforce announcement mentions the tripartite partners. Who are the three sides?”

A worker reading about skills development is seeing government, employers and unions described together. The phrase identifies the participants in the collaboration, rather than three departments inside one company.

The Part People Get Wrong

NTUC and SNEF are not other names for MOM. NTUC is a national confederation of trade unions, while SNEF represents employers. Their different roles are what make the partnership tripartite.