The mediation unit of the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment has managed the enviable record of averting all strike action since its inception in 2008.
The Minister, Mr Jone Usamate, proudly announced today that since the set-up of the mediation unit under the Ministry, there have been no strikes, an act taken as the final resort for conflict resolution by trade unions.
He said the Ministry was now seeing a high success rate of grievance and dispute resolution through mediation with settlement now hovering around 80 per cent.
Mr Usamate was speaking to his mediation unit that will undergo four days of training by two experts from the Singapore Mediation Centre.
“Since the inception of the Mediation Unit in 2008, there has been slow but decisive increase in the number of grievances reported with corresponding increase in settlement rate of such grievances starting from 75 per cent and now hovering around 80 per cent,” he said.
Mr Usamate said, “The best way to resolve a dispute is for the parties involved to sit together and make decisions because this might be a simple solution but it is a profound solution”.
He explained that mediation is a self-determination process in which the control of the resolution of the grievances or disputes rests with the parties hence an amicable solution is more likely through this than the openly hostile mechanism of the past.
The philosophy of mediation as a method of conflict resolution draws its essence from the Employment Relations Promulgation and the Health and Safety regulation, which are the two laws governing the employer-employee relations amongst many other issues dealing with the workplace.
The two trainers, Mr George Kim and Ms Josephine Hadikusumo, have much experience in the area of mediation as they have assisted many countries to set up a mediation unit.
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