The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) will be setting up a national association for freelance coaches and instructors in fields such as sports, dance and fitness.
The aim is to address the welfare and career development concerns of this group of freelancers, Todayonline said in a report.
The major issues these workers face include the loss of income due to illness or injury, payment-related disputes, as well as professional development to help improve their work prospects.
For example association members will be able to get access to insurance packages from National Instructors and Coaches Association (Nica)'s insurance partners to mitigate against income loss due to prolonged sick leave.
The membership is open to freelance coaches and instructors with Sport Singapore and the People's Association. Those who are engaged by schools for co-curricular activities in sports, music, fitness, dance and wellness are also eligible for the membership. NTUC estimates that there are about 5,000 full-time freelancers in these areas.
According to statistics from Ministry of Manpower in June 2017, there are about 202,900 "own account workers". They make up the growing gig economy in Singapore.
These are self-employed persons who run their own trade without employing a paid worker, and they make up 9.3 percent of the resident workforce. This figure presented a 19.7 percent jump from 169,500 workers in June 2015.
The association will look into areas such as market rates, and work-related disputes, including those relating to payment and cancellation of services. Another focus is training, in which workshops and training programmes will be conducted by accomplished master trainers. This will help the coaches and instructors to raise their work prospects.
