DYSON had complied with regulations when it submitted its mandatory retrenchment notification to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on time – that is, within five working days of conducting its retrenchment exercise on Oct 1.
The appliance maker was rapped by the United Workers of Electronics and Electrical Industries (UWEEI) for giving short notice of only one day to the union in Singapore before laying off an unspecified number of workers. UWEEI, which is affiliated with the National Trades Union Congress, said at the time that it had “escalated” the matter to MOM.
However, MOM in a media statement on Saturday (Oct 12) said that the period of notice to union is negotiable because the retrenched employees from Dyson are professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) who are not unionised and not within the scope of the union’s collective representation.
Nevertheless, the law allows executives to be represented individually by unions on retrenchment benefits beyond the scope of representation in the collective agreement, so as to provide safeguards for the interests of both employees and employers.
Dyson provided retrenched workers with retrenchment benefits that are aligned with the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Excess Manpower and Responsible Retrenchment, MOM said.
Laid-off employees with less than two years of service will also be provided retrenchment benefits.
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Generally, workers who have served the company for at least two years are eligible for retrenchment benefits. Those with less than that duration could be granted an ex-gratia payment out of goodwill.
Unions have to be informed by employers before carrying out a retrenchment exercise affecting unionsed workers, with the norm being one month before notifying the employees. This is so that the union and the company can work together to assist affected employees and arrange job placement services.
The number of workers that were let go by Dyson was not made public, neither was there any information on the types of roles they had held.
A Dyson spokesperson did not disclose the information to The Business Times despite being queried.
The Dyson spokesperson, however, said that the 2022 forecast of S$1.5 billion in investment over four years remains unchanged. Its staff strength in Singapore rose by 35 per cent to nearly 2,000 in 2023.
An Economic Development Board spokesperson had said in an earlier statement after news of the retrenchment broke that the appliance maker maintains a “significant presence” in Singapore across headquarters, innovation and manufacturing activities.
