13 Oct 2010
U Summit Membership Awards 2010
ALL C.A.N Strategy bears fruit
1. In 2007, the Labour Movement launched the LM2011 vision which gave birth to the All C.A.N (Collars, Ages, and Nationalities) framework, paving the way for an inclusive workforce. Persisting with this strategy, the Labour Movement is seeing one of the strongest membership growth in the past four years, hitting 20,000 in the first six months of 2010. Besides growing union membership from 470,000 in 2006 to 570,000 in Sept 2010, a network of membership communities including nEbO, Young NTUC, U Family, U Live and U Club has been formed to serve the specific needs of different groups of workers.
U Summit Membership Awards
2. The strong membership growth was also attributed to the collective efforts and active participation of the unions, communities, Social Enterprises (SEs) and strategic partners through the 3R Strategy - Recruitment, Retention and Relationship. At the U Summit Membership Awards Night, those who exemplified the 3R strategy were recognised for their achievements.
3. Seven unions were presented with the top award, the U Achiever Award, for achieving more than 5% net increase in Ordinary Branch (OB) Membership. UWEEI, MIWU, CIEU and SPWU received the U Breakthrough Award for their breakthroughs in membership recruitment. Their achievements range from attracting a strong base of PMETs (Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians) to join as union members, extending the scope of union representation to junior executives, converting 100% of companies’ staff to union members and recognising workers of contracted companies as union members. The U Partners Award and The U Champion Award were also given to those for their contribution to the 3R strategy (Refer to Annex 1 for full details).
An All Inclusive Labour Movement
4. The Labour Movement is committed to reach out and serve three generations of workforce - workers of yesterday, today and tomorrow. We will engage the workers of yesterday, i.e. the retirees, and help them lead a happy, healthy, productive and purposeful life as active agers. Currently, we have 14,000 members who are 65 years and above compared to just 8,000 in 2006. We will continue to engage and provide lifelong membership to this growing group of active agers.
5. We will also broaden our outreach from white and blue-collar workers of today, to reach the PMETs. We now serve 184,000 PMETs (34% of our membership base) compared to 136,880 in 2006. We will be able to better represent the needs of this growing group of members at the workplace with the new PMET’s legislation kicking in with effect from January 2011. PMETs can also look forward to more training and skills upgrading opportunities as we tie up with more course providers to serve their needs as well as to participate in activities and events organised by Young NTUC and U Family.
6. nEbO, the junior membership arm of NTUC, will also form an integral part of the Labour Movement. These youths are the future workforce that will contribute to the growth of the Labour Movement. Through nEbO, we will work towards creating a community of work-ready, world-ready and life-ready youths. We have 37,000 nEbO members currently.
7. Reaping positive membership growth from the All C.A.N framework, the Labour Movement is confident of adopting this strategy to reach out to the customers of the NTUC social enterprises, which is close to 2.5 million to date. As an inclusive Labour Movement, we want to create a greater social impact on their lives.
Launch of Plus!
8. Beyond growing and strengthening membership communities within the Labour Movement, we will also leverage on the large customer base of our NTUC social enterprises. An enhanced loyalty programme called Plus! is launched to offer more rewards to a wider base of union members, members of the Labour Movement communities and regular customers of NTUC social enterprises.
9. The LinkPoints Rewards Programme has about 1 million members, consisting of NTUC union members and regular customers of our social enterprises. From the synergy created by reaching out to these two groups, Plus! now allows the Labour Movement to offer them greater benefits and further stretch their hard-earned dollar. The stronger support and pooling of resources between the NTUC social enterprises, the Labour Movement and its partners will also bring about greater savings to members and reach out to more workers in the future with more discounts (e.g. an exclusive 8% discount on over 500 selected NTUC FairPrice housebrand items, fuel discount and preferential rates for healthcare services when using the Plus! payment card) and more LinkPoints (e.g. double LinkPoints earned for any purchase using the Plus! payment card). (Refer to Annex 2 for full details)
10. Union members will continue to be entitled to additional benefits such as NTUC FairPrice cash rebates of up to $240, workplace representation, free NTUC Income group insurance coverage, discounted rates at chalets and resorts, as well as training grants.
11. In the near future, Plus! members can look forward to expansions in popular product categories such as telecommunications and lifestyle. By 2015, the Labour Movement also aims to grow the Plus! membership from 1 million members to 1.5 million, with an estimated savings of $35-$40 million for them.
Concentrate and Dominate Strategy
12. To remain relevant and strong, the Labour Movement must continue to broaden its reach and grow its membership base. Under its adopted “Concentrate and Dominate” strategy, the unions’ structure is being updated through restructuring and mergers. This is so that the unions can concentrate their limited resources to focus on key growth sectors. At the same time, they can strive to have a dominant presence in the various sectors by proactively reaching out to workers of all collars, ages and nationalities in a comprehensive and inclusive manner.
Conclusion
13. 2011 will be a major milestone for the Labour Movement as we celebrate NTUC’s 50th anniversary. We will continue to advance towards our vision of becoming the most inclusive Labour Movement in the world for all collars, all ages and all nationalities of workers to work, live and play together.
Annex 1
Total Categories of Award – 7
Total No. of Awards Recipients – 36
Annex 2
Plus! – the Enhanced Loyalty Programme of the Labour Movement
Under the LinkPoints Rewards Programme, which is NTUC’s previous loyalty programme since 1998, there are over 1 million members made up of NTUC union members and customers of social enterprises. In the financial year of 2009, these members enjoyed savings over $20 million worth of LinkPoints.
Launch of Plus!
On 13 October 2010, this loyalty programme has now been enhanced to offer more rewards to a wider base of union members, members of the Labour Movement communities and regular customers of NTUC social enterprises. Called Plus!, it will continue to issue “LinkPoints” – the Labour Movement’s currency to redeem rewards conveniently – to members when they made purchases. In addition, the pooling of synergies will allow the NTUC social enterprises to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty through stronger rapport and resource support between the social enterprises and the Labour Movement family.
Plus! Benefits
For Payment Cardholders
Plus! members will also be able to stretch their dollar through more discounts and rewards when they use the payment card (NTUC Plus! VISA or Plus! VISA) for their purchases:
The Plus! payment cards are a collaboration with the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC Bank), with OCBC Bank providing all banking products and services. OCBC Bank has been working closely with NTUC since 2004 to offer simple and convenient banking services for union members and the general work force.
For All Cardholders (Payment and Non-Payment)
Plus! will continue to offer LinkPoints when members spend on essentials such as groceries, healthcare items and recreation at most NTUC social enterprises and Plus! merchants totaling some 900 outlets. At a majority of Plus! merchants, members can choose to utilise their LinkPoints instantly to offset their payment at the point-of-sale. This allows a quick and convenient way for members to save money and redeem rewards at the same time. Union members will continue to enjoy additional benefits, as mentioned in the main release.
While the Plus! Programme is free for NTUC union members, non-union members can now join the Plus! Programme through the application for payment (credit and debit cards) or non-payment cards. For more information on application details, please log on to www.plusinfo.com.sg
NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say said, “As an inclusive Labour Movement, we are always on the lookout for new and better ways of helping more workers and more union members stretch every hard-earned dollar. This round of expansion and enhancement of our loyalty programme is a major leap forward. It will bring more benefits to existing members and a wider group of workers, especially the customers of our social enterprises. Together with our NTUC social enterprises, we believe we can make a greater social impact on the lives of our working people and their families.”
