By Shukry Rashid
Union of Telecoms Employees of Singapore (UTES) General Treasurer Joshua Benjamin may be turning 64 in December this year, but the passion for labour issues keeps on going strong. He joined SingTel Aeradio in 1976 – now NCS Communications Engineering when it merged with Singtel subsidiary NCS Pte Ltd in 2002 – and realised that he and his fellow workers were not well represented.
When he joined UTES in 1989, he took it upon himself to instil better employee representation and improve working conditions. He has also been serving in the NTUC Workplace Safety and Health Committee since 2007.
NTUC This Week: How much did the issue of safety plagued your branch back then?
Joshua Benjamin: Back in those days, there wasn’t much awareness on safety. We had to address this because we had workers who maintained aerial antennas that could get up to 300 metres tall while facing strong winds. We also had workers maintaining communication lines underground, and there were no safety guidelines back then. It was then that the branch went to UTES, sought references on safety procedures and implemented them.
How did the union tackle other safety concerns?
Besides maintaining aerial antennas like those in Bukit Timah, we also had to maintain those located off-shore such as on Saint John’s Island. Our maintenance workers had to take a ferry to these locations while transporting heavy equipment. This was another area of safety that we addressed. Slowly, the union worked with the management to implement safety assurances like safety allowances, procedures and insurances.
How did the management take it when the union brought up these safety issues?
I think they felt we were troublemakers. But after the union highlighted issues one by one and their importance, the management came around to support us. Whenever the union brought up any issues, we had to present a case to the management. Last time, we had workers who went into manholes to maintain communication cables and fainted because of gas leaks. Now, we have safety protocols to follow such as ensuring the proper use of equipment to ensure there is no leakage before entering the work area. Thanks to this, the number of accidents has decreased, and the working conditions have become much better.
How is UTES coping with the increasing number of professionals, managers and executives (PME) at the workplace?
We already have PMEs who are our General Branch members, and we are looking to form a PME branch in the union. This way, they can become our Ordinary Branch members and they can elect a representative into our union council so that they can be represented better.
Going forward, will unions represent PMEs more than rank-and-file workers?
We cannot deny the fact that the number of PMEs in Singapore is increasing. As such, we have to remain relevant by representing them as well. But going into the future with this, we still have to hold on to the basics of why the union was formed, which is to represent the rank-and-file workers.
Source: NTUC This Week
