Serious SBS Ups Bus Captains' Pay By 15% ! Majulah PAP! Majulah NTUC!

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SINGAPORE: From Wednesday (Jun 1), bus captains that join SBS Transit will be able to earn a gross monthly salary of up to S$3,460 within their first year, more than 15 per cent higher than before.

In a joint news release on Wednesday, SBS Transit and the the National Transport Workers Union (NTWU) said Singaporeans and Singapore Permanent Residents (PR) that join as bus captains will start at a monthly basic salary of S$1,950, which is S$175 more than the current S$1,775 starting salary. They will also receive a sign-on bonus of S$3,000.

In addition, their salaries will also be bolstered with the extension of a newly introduced reliability incentive which pays up to S$300 a month, if bus captains for 25 trial bus services achieve set targets until August 2016. The reliability incentive will eventually be extended to all bus captains when bus services come under the new Government bus-contracting model in September, and the amounts for performance, productivity and safety incentives will also be adjusted upwards, SBS Transit said.

The revised salary package benefits close to 10,000 SBS Transit employees, of which 6,500 are bus captains. It also has new and enhanced benefits, including two weeks of paid paternity leave, free travel on all train and basic bus services, free annual health screening and the roll-out of a new flexible benefits scheme with an annual credit value of S$500.

SBS Transit Chief Executive Officer Gan Juay Kiat said the operator hopes to strengthen its "Singaporean core" with the new package.

"With structured training programmes to develop the professionalism and competency of our bus captains, we also offer attractive career progression opportunities where they can move up to executive and managerial positions in operations, management and training," Mr Gan said, concluding that the company had "put together a package that offers an attractive career in the bus industry".

NTWU executive secretary Melvin Yong said SBS Transit had set a "good example" as the biggest local public bus operator. “As the Singapore public bus industry grows and evolves, this review of employment terms and career progression for our bus captains is timely," Mr Yong said.

"These are important steps to professionalise our public bus industry so that we can better attract and retain staff; and also to build a stronger Singaporean core."

As SBS Transit has adopted a Progressive Wage Model, bus captains can rise to the position of chief bus captains, drawing a monthly gross salary of about S$5,500 or more. Bus captains can also progress to non-driving roles to assume executive and managerial roles in interchange and depot operations and management, in bus operations control centres, and in training.

Last month, UK-based transport operator Tower Transit announced a 3.5 per cent pay increment for its employees in Singapore, raising the monthly gross salary of a junior bus captain to about to about S$3,440 and above including overtime and incentives.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...html?cid=fbcna


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