29 Apr 2010
The prestigious May Day Awards were conferred on 88 outstanding individuals and companies – the most number of awardees thus far since 1963[1] - at the May Day Dinner graced by 1,800 guests. These awards recognise their significant and sustained contributions to the Labour Movement through the promotion of good industrial relations, strong support for training initiatives and helping workers improve their welfare. A total of 10 categories of May Day awards were presented. (Please refer to Annex A for full list)
There are eight awardees nominated by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) this year, under the categories of: Distinguished Service (Star), Meritorious Service, Medal of Commendation (Gold) and Plaque of Commendation (Star). The Plaque of Commendation (Star) is given out for the first time this year, even though the award had been created in 2006.
Upturn the Downturn – 15 awardees
In addition to the regular May Day Awards this year, there will also be a special category - the Upturn the Downturn Awards - to recognise deserving parties who helped fight the recession in an extraordinary year of 2008/2009. 15 unionists, management individuals and companies had gone out of their way to support initiatives such as shorter work weeks and implemented cost-cutting measures to avoid retrenchments at all cost. Please see Annex B for their citations.
Distinguished Service (Star) – 2 awardees
The Distinguished Service (Star), which had only been given out to four other awardees since 2001, was awarded to Mr Goh Chee Wee, Chairman of NTUC First Campus Co-operative Ltd and Mr David Wong, Director of the Singapore Labour Foundation (SLF) this year. Apart from being one of the pioneers who shaped the progression of industrial and house unions in Singapore, Mr Goh served several NTUC’s social enterprises, as well as SLF, for the past 29 years. He took pains to expand NTUC FairPrice, NTUC Foodfare and NTUC Media to where it is today. Separately, Mr Wong has been actively involved in helping to level the social divide between rich and poor, and advocating initiatives that improve the employability of workers such as placing all service contracts in One Marina Boulevard (OMB) under a best-sourcing framework, in his capacity as the Chairman of OMB Pte Ltd.
Meritorious Service – 1 awardee
The Meritorious Service was given to Mr Tay Kim Poh, Chief Executive Officer of the Housing Development Board. Known as a people developer, Mr Tay has implemented various programmes on worklife balance, staff engagement and job re-design to build a strong workforce in HDB. A strong believer of productivity, he regularly reviews work processes and merged the finance and services counters at its branch offices to provide a one-stop service for customers between 2007 and 2008. This move not only allowed HDB to be more flexible, it also helped employees to be multi-skilled.
Medal of Commendation (Gold) – 3 awardees
The Medal of Commendation (Gold) was awarded to three management individuals – Mr Tong Chong Heong, Managing Director of Keppel FELS, Mr Tan Ser Kiat, Group Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Health Services, and Mr Kua Hong Pak, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of ComfortDelGro Corporation. Both Mr Tong and Mr Tan take a personal interest in worker training and firmly believe in lifelong learning. While Mr Tong played a key role in establishing the Keppel Offshore & Marine Training Centre, Mr Tan set up a Talent Development Fund in 2006 to enable more overseas learning opportunities for healthcare professionals. Both also strongly support measures to re-employ older workers beyond age 62.
The third recipient is recognised by his employees as a leader who is down to earth and compassionate. Under Mr Kua’s leadership, ComfortDelGro pioneered the NTUC’s Job Re-design Programme in 2006 and also revised the starting salaries of local bus captains by a 15% increase. During the downturn, Mr Kua also sent a clear message to employees that sacrifices will start from the top by implementing a pay freeze for senior staff.
Plaque of Commendation (Star) – 2 awardees
The Plaque of Commendation (Star) was given out to two outstanding companies – Murata Electronics (S) Pte Ltd and PUB, the national water agency. This award is given out for the first time this year even though it was created in 2006. As a proactive management, Murata was the first unionised company to send workers for the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR), which resulted in 200 jobs saved during the worst point of the downturn. To date, there has been no retrenchment in the company due to its dedicated efforts to upgrade and re-skill its employees. On the other hand, PUB has always been exceptionally thoughtful towards staff welfare. From ensuring that staff without tertiary qualifications receive adequate training such as the Diploma in Water Technology to giving $120 per union member per year to be invested in the employee’s name in a thrift and loan co-operative, PUB has truly exemplified a harmonious relationship with its union.
Other awardees include six non-unionists, 29 unionists, 13 senior management representatives and 17 unionised companies who have made exceptional contributions to the Labour Movement and have sacrificed in one way or another for the workers.
Mr Lim Kuang Beng, the chairperson of the May Day Awards sub-committee said, “This year we see a record number of 88 awardees, including a once-off special category of Upturn the Downturn Awards. This goes to show that our unions and companies stepped up their efforts in a difficult economic year in 2009, and together with the government, continued to show strong support for our workers and the Labour Movement’s initiatives. This is indeed the true spirit and real test of strong tripartite relations that we have built over the decades.”
The May Day Dinner sub-committee and May Day Awards sub-committee would also like to thank the SLF, NTUC FairPrice and NTUC Club for the generous support, without which, the May Day Dinner 2009 would not have been possible.
[1] 1963 was the first year in which the NTUC May Day Awards were given out.
