Nursing and union work are her passions. They mirror each other as both are about serving others, and NTUC’s first ever female President Diana Chia has excelled in both as the record shows.
Elected NTUC President at the 2011 NTUC National Delegates’ Conference (NDC) after having served in the NTUC Central Committee since 1994, Sister Diana, 59, decided to step down at the recent 2015 NTUC NDC to make way for others.
In the early days, she was active in a Branch Committee when nurses were organised by the Amalgamated Union of Public Employees (AUPE). Subsequently, she was a founder member of the Health Corporation of Singapore Staff Union (HCSSU) when it was formed in 1989, following the restructuring of the public healthcare sector.
She was elected President of HCSSU in 1991 and for a further three terms until 2005 when she was elected to serve as General Secretary.
Sister Diana played a key role in the merger of the two healthcare house unions - HCSSU and National University Hospital Employees’ Union (NUHEU). The two unions merged to become the Healthcare Services Employees’ Union (HSEU) in 2007 and she has served as its General Secretary ever since. With a widened scope, HSEU now represents more than 36,000 members in the healthcare industry.
Among the numerous committees, panels, councils and boards she has served at various times are the National Wages Council, the Industrial Arbitration Court and the National Productivity Council. In addition, she is constantly behind many initiatives to improve the lives of workers in the healthcare clusters.
“Congratulations to all Central Committee members. I wish you all the best as you build another milestone for the Labour Movement. I appreciate the opportunity to have served as President of NTUC. Thanks for the support from the union leaders and NTUC staff. There is a season for everything we do. Stepping down is not stepping away from the Labour Movement. The spirit of unionism will continue…” - Diana Chia
More information on NTUC's new Central Committee can be read here.
