Principal Industrial Relations Officer, Food, Drinks and Allied Workers’ Union
Food, Drinks and Allied Workers’ Union (FDAWU) recently returned victorious from a secret ballot after making St Regis the first six-star hotel to be under their belt among the other 56 hotels. The secret ballot was held from 22-24 November 2011 over a total of six sessions starting as early as 7.30 a.m. for the morning sessions. 114 of the 136 voters casted their votes to declare that they are union members, securing an 84 per cent support of the votes
cast.
This win did not come easy as some six months ago FDAWU had lost the first secret ballot marginally by five votes. This previous secret ballot had only two days and a lesser number of hours covered, and this made it hard for members on leave and on different shifts to come forth to vote.
However, the union learnt from the experience and convinced the Ministry of Manpower to increase the hour coverage of the secret ballot. This increased the number of voters by more than a quarter, which proved advantageous to the union.
The management and the union also pledged to move forward with this new partnership and aim to draw positively from it. FDAWU already has plans to work with St Regis to improve productivity through the use of IGP, and assist the workers in achieving better jobs through productivity improvements.
