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Do Singapore unions have a PR problem?
Unionists speak of late night phone calls with troubled workers and tense negotiations with the management of companies as part and parcel of the work they do. But outside the unions, not many workers - especially among the younger ones - are aware of such efforts.
(Illustration: CNA/ Samuel Woo)
From forming a union in his oil and gas company as a young worker in his 20s to holding top positions in the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), Mr K Karthikeyan has spent about 40 years fighting for workers’ rights.
Yet, the emeritus general secretary at United Workers of Petroleum Industry said that many people are still unclear about the work he and the labour union do.
“When I tell people I work with NTUC, they will start talking to me about the prices of this and that item. I have to keep telling them I do not work at FairPrice,” said the 65-year-old former Nominated Member of Parliament, referring to the supermarket chain that is under the NTUC umbrella.
He attributes the mix-up to the “excellent” marketing work by NTUC FairPrice and the fact that the co-operative touches the lives of the wider public more directly and regularly than the labour relations part of NTUC.
But it points to an issue acknowledged by Mr Karthikeyan and other unionists who spoke to CNA TODAY: Many members of the public do not know what the labour movement does or can do for workers, with some even questioning its effectiveness.
Mr Andy Ang, 39, who has been with the labour movement for 10 years, said he has heard some critics, especially those from the younger generation, dismiss NTUC as “no use”.
“But actually that is not the truth. If you look at COVID-19 for instance, it has come out in the papers how we dealt with certain companies (to help workers),” said the assistant executive secretary at the Supply Chain Employees' Union, which represents the interests of logistics and supply chain workers.
NTUC assistant secretary-general and former MP Zainal Sapari agreed: “Sometimes I feel that the work of union leaders is underappreciated.”
The role of the labour movement here has been thrust into the spotlight again in the wake of a spate of high-profile layoffs this year.
E-commerce company Lazada conducted a retrenchment exercise affecting at least 100 workers in January, without informing NTUC. Consumer appliances firm Dyson axed an undisclosed number of workers in October, giving NTUC only one day's notice.
A parliamentary debate in September also put a spotlight on the close relationship between NTUC and the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), which is commonly described as "symbiotic", or mutually beneficial.
Unionists that CNA TODAY spoke to acknowledged the image issue that NTUC has and the scepticism shared among some members of the public towards the labour movement.
However, these unionists said they would be circumspect about trying to counter this image problem by flaunting the largely unheralded efforts that take place behind closed doors. This quiet work involves protecting workers and dealing with employers when disputes arise.
These unionists worry that publicly airing such cases, even without naming parties to work around confidentiality issues, might engender distrust on the part of companies and unintentionally paint a negative picture of industrial relations in Singapore in the eyes of prospective investors.
Balancing all these concerns, what then can the labour movement do to convince the public of the NTUC’s importance to them?
And if it is unable to grow support among workers here, what does that bode for the future of NTUC and the tripartism model here?
HOW SINGAPORE'S TRIPARTISM CAME ABOUT
Business and labour experts describe Singapore’s tripartism model – which involves a collaborative approach between unions, employers and the government – as a rarity in the world.Dr Chew Soon Beng, from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), said that the closeness between NTUC and the ruling party is such that observers might not be able to see daylight between them.
“To outsiders, they cannot tell them apart because MPs leading NTUC are also PAP MPs leading the government,” said the adjunct senior fellow at S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU, who has written several books about labour relations.
To understand this symbiotic relationship though, one has to trace back the genesis of the labour movement here.
The NTUC was formed before Singapore's nationhood in 1961, after the Trades Union Congress (TUC) split into two factions – the non-communist NTUC and pro-communist Singapore Association of Trade Unions (SATU).
NTUC aligned with PAP while SATU, which had the support of a large number of unions, formed an alliance with Barisan Sosialis.
The period after the split saw a spike in strikes. Of the 116 strikes that occurred in 1961, 77 happened after SATU applied to register with the Registrar of Trade Unions in August. This compared with 45 strikes in 1960, according to NTUC.
In 1963, SATU was refused registration by the registrar, leaving NTUC as the sole union congress.
By 1969, however, NTUC’s membership had fallen drastically, in part due to the dissatisfaction among rank-and-file members over NTUC’s support for legal amendments that curtailed unions’ powers to make demands.
To address this, a "modernisation of the labour movement" seminar was held, where labour union members and leaders were convinced to abandon the old confrontational ways in favour of a more collaborative approach that would support nation-building.
Instead of heading to the picket line as a first resort, union leaders were urged to take issues to the negotiation table.
NTUC's current deputy secretary-general Desmond Tan, 54, told CNA TODAY: “During that time when NTUC agreed to tripartism, telling the union leaders that they had to give up their aggressive ways of seeking rights and protection, that was not something easy.
Mr Tan is also senior minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office.
“But we understood why, as a small country, we had to do that,” he said, noting that workers were not getting a better outcome through strikes, which often led to loss of income and high unemployment.
Fast forward to today and NTUC has helped its members settle thousands of disputes since.
Between 2019 and 2023, NTUC handled 10,435 industrial relations cases among its ordinary branch members, according to its latest figures.
About 96 per cent of such cases were resolved at the company level, with the remainder escalated to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
These cases include disputes over salary and benefits, dismissal and termination concerns and workplace conflicts, among others.
Ordinary branch members generally refer to those working in unionised companies. General branch members are those from non-unionised companies, or who work in unionised companies but are in a "non-bargainable" positions, such as top executives of the firm.
In the same period, NTUC handled 15,113 cases involving general branch members, through the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management @ NTUC (TADM@NTUC).
NTUC’s membership has grown 30 per cent in the last three years to reach over 1.3 million, said NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng at the latest May Day Rally.
Of this number, about 45 per cent are professionals, managers and executives (PMEs), which mirrors the PME ratio at the national level, he said.
The share of Professionals, Managers, Executives & Technicians (PMETs) among employed residents increased from 62.6 per cent in 2023 to 63.7 per cent in 2024, according to the latest figures by the manpower ministry.
Building the membership among higher-educated workers has been a key concern of the labour movement in recent years.
For instance, former Cabinet minister and NTUC chief of 13 years, Mr Lim Boon Heng, during a labour movement event in September 2023, noted that a survey had found that tertiary-educated workers showed less support for tripartism than those who had lower education.
"They don't know what the trade unions do,” he noted then.
The online survey Mr Lim was citing had been conducted by the PAP Policy Forum in August 2023, involving 1,500 party members and non-members and touched on various issues, including their attitude towards tripartism.
Mr Lim said that when he was secretary-general of the labour movement up to 2006, he saw the educational profile of the workforce changing.
He had wanted to expand the scope of union representation to more of these higher-educated workers, but was unable to do so.
“So we have therefore structurally denied workers with higher education the possibility of joining the union," he said then, adding: “And then I must also say that maybe (NTUC) didn't do enough to look into what might interest the better-educated workers."
Nearly a decade after Mr Lim's tenure ended, the Industrial Relations Act that regulates a trade union’s function in employer-employee relationships was amended in 2015 to allow rank-and-file unions to represent executive employees on a collective basis.
In November 2023, Mr Ng also said that pushing for more PMEs to join NTUC was among the top priorities in upcoming years, in a bid to make NTUC an “all-collar” union in light of the growing proportion of PMEs in the local workforce.
“As our workforce becomes increasingly PME-centric, there is an urgent need to extend our scope of representation to include PMEs in collective bargaining and onboard PMEs into union leadership,” he said.
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"SLAMMED" BY MEMBERS, TALKED DOWN TO BY BOSSES
Unionists interviewed by CNA TODAY spoke about emotionally draining, time-consuming efforts that they have put in behind closed doors to help workers.And while NTUC hardly makes public the disputes that they handle, in reality, such industrial issues are anything but rare.
“It’s happening every other day in my union. I'm only one union, there are 58 unions,” said NTUC deputy secretary-general Desmond Tan, who is also executive secretary for the Singapore Industrial & Services Employees' Union (SISEU). He added that such cases cover both minor and major disputes.
Mr Tan is also senior minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office.
A veteran unionist in the public sector in his 60s said it is common for union leaders to stay up until midnight listening to their members’ grievances.
“If the member is sharing his problems with you, you can’t just cut them off right?” said the unionist, who declined to be named as he did not have permission from his employer to speak to the media.
On top of this, union leaders in companies also regularly raise worker feedback directly to the management from time to time.
Facing the ire from both management and workers is par for the course for union work, said the union leaders.
“Have you sat in a meeting room and got 'hentam' by unhappy members for two hours?” said the anonymous union leader, using the Malay word for 'slam'.
Mr Ang of NTUC recalled an incident where he had to deal with an initially uncooperative logistics company boss about a retrenchment issue. This was when Mr Ang was still quite new to his role as an industrial relations officer.
“The first thing he told me was: ‘Young man, what do you know about logistics? If you don’t know anything about logistics, don’t come and talk to me',” he recounted.
Regardless of how tense negotiations with employers can be, and at times voices can be raised in fraught talks, the unionists still try their level best to maintain a cordial, long-term relationship with the bosses, they said.
Senior industrial relations officer Nur Faeza Mohamed Kefli recalled one incident where she had to negotiate with a company over a wrongful termination case. The discussions reached a deadlock and had to be raised to MOM for conciliation.
“Even though that was happening, I still had a good working relationship with the company, because even beyond this case, there are other things that have to engage the company on,” she said, adding that there were still other workers in the company that she would have to fight for in the long run.
“So it doesn't make sense to just burn my bridge and then go ‘Okay, we are done’.”
But being collaborative and thinking long-term does not mean, in any way, capitulating to company demands, all the unionists stressed to CNA TODAY.
NTUC deputy secretary-general Cham Hui Fong recalled a retrenchment exercise by aircraft maintenance company Eagles Services Asia in 2020 that almost resulted in industrial action.
In Singapore, barring essential service workers in water, gas or electricity service, it is legal for workers to go on strike if the union obtains the consent of the majority of their members affected through a secret ballot.
And for the Eagles Services Asia case, as the company did not show signs of budging – with workers already being escorted out while negotiations were ongoing – the union conducted a secret ballot and secured enough votes from members to carry out industrial action.
“That was when the management had no choice but to sit down and discuss further with us,” said Ms Cham.
Though enough votes had been collated, the issue was resolved without industrial action.
However, threatening industrial action is only a last resort that has been exercised on “rare” occasions, she said.
This is firstly in the interest of preserving industrial harmony, but also to ensure that such a threat does not become overused such that it lessens the impact on companies in the future.
The last strike in recent years was an illegal one in 2012 by 120 SMRT bus drivers. Before that, Singapore’s last strike happened in 1986 — a legal one sanctioned by then NTUC chief Ong Teng Cheong — held against Hydril, an American oilfield equipment company over what was seen as the wrongful termination of branch union officials.
Mr Tan, the other NTUC deputy secretary-general, said that authorising industrial action such as a strike is “still in our toolbox”, but fortunately one that the NTUC has not had to resort to in the last 40 years.
“Employers understand that unions here are effective. Our very presence is, in a way, a deterrence for them to misbehave,” he said.
“And for most companies actually that are here, they appreciate the peace and the labour relations, and they also want to keep the peace.”
WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE PR PROBLEM
With the frequency and intensity of dispute handling and negotiations largely kept out of public view, it naturally leaves some members of the public wondering what NTUC actually does, and whether they are effective, the unionists acknowledged.This is especially so against the backdrop of strikes and protests commonly associated with labour unions occurring in other economies, and a growing desire among workers to be heard.
Asked if this means NTUC should consider being more overt in some of its work, Mr Tan said: “I do think so. And because of the nature in which we operate, sometimes a lot of people don't know (what we do), because everything happens behind the scenes. So that's a challenge that we face."
He added that it is important to strike a balance between creating greater awareness of NTUC's work and relevance to the Singapore workforce and at the same time maintaining industry peace, to ensure that they can support workers and resolve issues with companies.
The lack of clarity over what NTUC does, coupled with its close links with the government, has led some camps to distance themselves from the labour movement, noted some unionists.
“Because of that, they don't want to engage with us. They're suspicious of us,” said Ms Nur Faeza the senior industrial relations officer.
When faced with such situations, she would remind these workers that affiliations aside, she is there to address their concerns. For her, the most memorable cases were of workers who turned into union supporters in spite of their initial scepticism, after the union was able to help them with issues they faced.
Non-unionised workers who spoke to CNA TODAY cited several reasons why they are not union members, including not even being aware of the union's existence in the first place, or being unconvinced that joining the union is beneficial for them.
A PME-level employee in a European multi-national company who wanted to be known only as Ms Adina, said she does not see the need to be a union member because she is already well-represented even as a non-member.
"For example, my employer would negotiate with labour unions across all the markets it is in before introducing a new employee benefits policy, which applies to all its workers," said the 31-year-old marketing manager.
But while NTUC strives to help all workers, its ability to do so for non-members and to legally represent their rights and interests before the company is limited.
A non-member might also not be covered in the collective agreements negotiated between unions and companies and be left out from receiving benefits entailed in such agreements, such as retrenchment payments.
For unions, membership is important as a means to show that they have a mandate from workers to engage in collective representation, said Associate Professor Walter Theseira from the Singapore University of Social Sciences.
“Without membership, no need to talk right, because you don't represent anybody, and so nobody needs to listen to you,” added the labour economist.
He noted that a shift in the make-up of workers – for example, a growing number of professionals, and greater diversity in the type of work – has brought about challenges for the labour movement not only here but globally.
Unionists told CNA TODAY that it is also common for some workers who were previously unsupportive of unions to come around and become members after NTUC has helped them or their colleagues in trouble.
However, the unionists were hesitant to suggest that NTUC should blow its trumpet more loudly.
Veteran unionists who spoke to CNA TODAY said that helping workers, especially in ways beyond what the companies are legally obligated to do, would require tapping the mutual goodwill and good working relationship between the union and management.
For instance, the anonymous union leader recalled one case where a company had some reasonable grounds to terminate a worker’s employment.
While the termination was unavoidable, the union managed to convince the company to write a testimonial for its ex-worker so that it could improve his job-seeking prospects.
Mr Karthikeyan, the veteran unionist, said if the labour union were to frequently air the disputes that occur between workers and employers, industrial harmony would not be at its current high level. This would, in turn, make it harder to help workers in need to achieve favourable outcomes above and beyond the legal minimum.
THE CHALLENGES THAT REMAIN
Overall, the challenges that the labour movement here face have evolved over the decades, in tandem with the shifting worker demographic.For example, Ms Cham said that due to Singapore’s ageing population, the employability of older workers is something that the labour union has to look into today that it did not have to worry about back when she first started.
This comes alongside another pressing issue that the labour movement faces: A lack of young union leaders.
Mr Ng during the annual national delegates’ conference in November 2023 described leadership development as “the most important work” the labour union had to do in the next few years.
“Our leaders are ageing. On top of that, fewer younger ones are stepping into the union leadership roles,” said Mr Ng.
Mr Anil Kumar Vijai Narain, a long-time unionist from the oil and gas industry, said this was in part due to the heavy commitment that comes with the job of union leader – something he can attest to.
“When I first joined the union, my eldest son was just born. Senior leaders asked me to step up, but I told them to give me a few years to focus on my family first,” said the 50-year-old.
True enough, after about nine years as an ordinary member, he joined the branch committee in his company and rose through the ranks. Today, he is the vice-president of the United Workers of Petroleum Industry.
The problem is exacerbated by the shifting demographic of workers, with more of them today comprising PMEs with better education and having career goals that are more within reach.
There is a common perception that stepping up as a union leader might adversely affect one’s chances for promotion or career growth, as such leaders may be seen as being “on the other side” of the management.
“As a parent, I also would want my children to focus on their own career growth,” said Mr Karthikeyan.
But to have a strong pipeline of potential union leaders, NTUC must first keep growing its membership base so that there is a wider pool to draw talent from in the first place.
This again boils down to addressing the misperception and a lack of interest among workers today, of whom educated PMEs are making up a larger and larger proportion.
Professor in Practice of strategy and policy from the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School Lawrence Loh said it is crucial for NTUC to meet the aspirations of workers today.
Where workers of yesteryear were primarily concerned about fundamental issues like remuneration and welfare benefits, workers now are also concerned about career progression, capability development and better work-life balance.
While Prof Loh acknowledged that “NTUC has been ramping up emphasis” on all these areas, there are also other avenues where workers can seek such benefits.
For instance, the national SkillsFuture programme makes available funds and opportunities for upskilling that can aid career progression.
Responding to this, Mr Tan of NTUC too acknowledged that there are “many hands” that can help any individual worker.
However, he said that the value that NTUC presents to workers needs to be looked at holistically.
“The core value proposition presented to (workers) is one of protection, which includes many other things like collective agreement. And then there’s career progression and placement – that’s where training and upskilling come in,” he said.
“So it’s for all that together, you pay S$9 a month. So it’s a matter of, do you see this basket of benefits useful for you as an individual, as a member?”
FUTURE OF TRIPARTISM
Then there are those workers who are sceptical of the tripartite model.But unionists – both leaders and those on the ground – insisted that this model has helped them in their mission to help workers.
For instance, Ms Nur Faeza feels that the symbiotic relationship with the government of the day helps to enhance NTUC’s reputation at the negotiation table, because companies know that the labour movement has a “strong backing”.
She said, however, that this was “only one key ingredient”, alongside the mutual respect and trust between the union and companies that has been developed over time through the collaborative tripartite model.
Mr Tan said it is important for a small and open economy like Singapore to bear in mind what attracts global companies here in the first place.
"We mustn't assume that if we don't have this tripartism, companies will continue to be here. When your cost is so high, what is the advantage? They might as well move to some places where land cost is lower, energy cost, manpower cost lower – on all three aspects, we are higher," he said.
Industrial stability and peace is one key factor attracting investments here, he added.
"And for a small, open economy like ours, you must bear in mind, why do companies want to invest in such a small market in Singapore, compared to maybe larger economies such as those in Europe, Japan, in South Korea?" said Mr Tan.
"In fact, if you had the chance to listen to many of the governments who came to visit us, they said they wish they had something similar (tripartism), and that we have something very precious."
Mr Guy Ryder, then director-general of the International Labour Organisation, in 2015 described tripartism in Singapore as “obviously successful”, even though it was looked upon suspiciously by those in some other parts of the world.
“Results matter. We can't preach a principle if the principle doesn't produce results. And here in Singapore, of course, the results (of tripartism) are very plain for all to see,” he added during a visit here in October that year.
Experts noted that in markets where existing industrial harmony is currently low, it may be harder to get employers and unions to become more collaborative with each other and form stronger tripartite relationships like in Singapore.
Assoc Prof Theseira of SUSS added that differing political dynamics may also pose a hurdle.
For instance, in countries where the labour unions are independently politically powerful, the government may not want to be drawn into industrial disputes. The unions, too, would be hesitant about having the government step in.
"If the government gets involved early (in negotiations), it would signal to the union members and the public that the union is worthless, because they cannot solve the problem on their own," he said.
Dr Chew of NTU said that while some may view negatively the close links between NTUC and the nation's governing party, the benefits provided by the union to workers can “overwhelm” this image question.
But more importantly, he said that political stability is one key factor that enables tripartism to thrive here but hard to replicate in some other parts of the world, making it Singapore’s “blue ocean strategy”.
“In other countries, their ruling political parties keep changing. (Hence), it is not easy to copy Singapore,” said Dr Chew.
Mr Zainal noted that ironically, the harmonious industrial relations and generally good labour conditions here may lead people to think that union membership is unnecessary.
Mr Karthikeyan said that having labour union protection is thus akin to insurance coverage: It is important, but some might neglect to protect themselves until faced with difficulties.
"But I always tell people: You get insurance early. You cannot wait until you're about to die before you buy insurance, right?"
Source: CNA/yy
