THE slogan by the National Trades Union Congress on the need for the economy to be cheaper, better and faster is questionable ('Cheaper, better, faster with all playing a part', Oct 15).

The timing may not be appropriate as thousands of Singaporeans are still jobless, and 'cheaper' may well connote shrinkage in real earnings.

Be that as it may, every company wants to gain a competitive advantage by producing goods and delivering services cheaper, better and faster. But most times, this approach exacts acute sacrifices and effort by the workers that merely provide incremental gains.

The war of the telcos is an example. Every week, telcos publicise new deals with better technology to retain subscribers and attract new ones. Prices are dropping continually but the differentiation in value is imperceptible.

Telcos are bleeding from such price wars. Unless they have a true game changer that shifts the current paradigm to their advantage, a market shake-up is likely. When that happens, jobs will be affected and workers must bear the brunt.

Exhorting the workforce to aim for cheaper, better, faster is limited by the marginal gain in competitive ad-vantage.

We should encourage workers to think creatively and innovate to find different ways to create greater value, instead of aiming to obtain marginal value from incremental improvement.

Perhaps the mantra for our workforce should be 'smarter, better, faster' instead.

Jimmy Chew

This article was first published in The Straits Times.