Format and Grouping of Clauses of the Collective Agreement

Format and Grouping of Clauses of the Collective Agreement (CA)

All drafting of CAs to be submitted from 23^rd October 2026 onwards must be done in the EmPOWER-IAC system. The EmPOWER-IAC system will automatically manage the formatting of your CA content. Please refer to the system guides to learn how to use the system. You should still take note of the formatting required and how to group clauses.

If you have an existing CA, the system will allow you to import its details into the drafting of the next CA. When drafting the CA, ensure that it meets the following requirements and formatting:

Requirements

Format

Language

English (British and not United States)

Numbering

Clause / Paragraph Style

For Main Clauses, this is automatically generated by the system, and will use numerals e.g. 1,2,3.

Do note that Clauses 1 & 2 are locked to the CA Title and CA Duration respectively.

In the system, please name your clause appropriately to reflect the content of the clause.

Example:
16 SHIFT ALLOWANCE

For Sub-clauses, use numerals in brackets i.e. (1),(2),(3) etc. Use the numbered indent function in the Rich Text Editor (“RTE”) to prevent alignment issues.

Example:
(1) A shift allowance shall be paid depending on the duty roster as follows: ...
(2) Transport allowance will be paid ...

For Paragraph, use letters in brackets i.e. (a),(b),(c) etc. Likewise, use the numbered indent function in the RTE, but increase the indent by one.

Example:
(a) 1st shift - nil
(b) 2nd shift - ...

For Sub-paragraph, use Roman numerals in brackets i.e. (i),(ii) etc. Likewise, use the numbered indent function in the RTE, but increase the indent by one.

Example:
(i) Ending between 2200 and 2400 hours - S$6.00
(ii) Ending between 2400 and 0800 hours - S$8.00

Category

Every main clause may be assigned a category. In general, clauses that are governed by law (e.g. Annual Leave, Maternity Leave, etc.) should be assigned a category.

During the drafting process, selecting a Category will allow you to quickly view the existing law that covers the category, as well as sample clauses that may be copied into the draft clause.

Grouping

Drafters are encouraged to group related clauses by arranging them in consecutive clause numbers.

Example:
20 ANNUAL LEAVE

21 SICK LEAVE

22 MATERNITY LEAVE

You can easily arrange the clause numbering by using the clause number selector in the system.