By Ramesh Subbaraman
Clearing security checks and fingerprint machines to join queues at the public food courts at the various terminals will now be something of the past for ground staff at Changi Airport.
Delta Café is set to change all that, after kicking into operation in mid October this year.
It is the first airside café, located at Terminal One and is open from 7am to 8pm.
NTUC Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) and Supervising Lead of the Aerospace and Aviation Cluster Cham Hui Fong said the café is the result of the close working ties between the management and unions of Changi Airport Group (CAG).
Delta Café was also the chosen venue for a union-management dialogue on 4 November 2016.
Airside setting
Fifty-four-year-old Rena Tan runs the Delta Café with nine staff.
She is no stranger to operating such food outlets as she has been running cafes at two military camps in the Sembawang area for many years.
Prior to starting the café, she had a food van selling packed food items to the airport ground staff. The truck was allocated four stop points for the sale.
The café, which hopes to get its halal certification by year end, serves a combination of finger food like sandwiches to meals like biryani and noodles, and hot and cold drinks.
“You have a very cosy place within the airside which has never happened since the airport started. This is a new beginning where the airport community will show their care and concern for the staff working on the airside. It gives them access to food while they are working overtime and waiting for the aircraft. In fact, we have been lobbying for the airside canteen for the longest time," said ASG Cham .
CAG-Union Ties
“Ties have improved tremendously. Under the Aviation and Aerospace Cluster, we have brought all the various unions together. In the past it was very much unions dealing with the workers and the workers giving feedback to CAG. What we have done is to bring CAG and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (C... directly in contact with the union,” added ASG Cham.
CAG’s Chief Executive Officer Lee Seow Hiang said that the people factor is very important for Changi Airport to remain vibrant and successful.
He added, “People see the hardware. They do not see the team spirit… clearly, our union leaders play a key role in representing the aspirations and needs of the workers here. That is why we are always enthusiastic to work closely with our union leaders to make sure that the airport community remains strong, and that is something we do not take for granted.”
Delta Cafe also received the thumbs up from several union leaders.
“A lot of workers have to walk out to the main terminal building for the food. I didn’t expect the café to be so classy… this is beyond my expectation,” said the General Secretary of the Singapore Airlines Staff Union (SIASU) S. Rathakrishnan.
NTUC Central Committee member and General Secretary of the SIA Engineering Company Engineers and Executives Union (SEEU) Ong Hwee Liang noted, “The café saves our workers time from having to queue with the public. They can actually put that time into better use during their work assignment.”
Source: NTUC This Week
