According to Singapore Bank Officers’ Association (SBOA) President Nirmala Somasundram, the union’s ongoing focus is on encouraging younger unionists to take on leadership roles and working with banks on re-employment matters.
Recently re-elected to its Executive Council, 63-year-old Nirmala juggles her time between union work and a full time job as the assistant manager at Indian Overseas Bank’s Remittance Centre at Serangoon Road. SBOA has 6,380 members.
NTUC This Week: Tell us about your union journey with SBOA.
Nirmala Somasundram: My journey with SBOA started as early as 1999 when I joined the Executive Council as a Committee Member. In 2007, I became the assistant general secretary and last year I became the president after my predecessor flowed on. Most of our members are junior executives. However, for some banks, we also represent their senior executives.
What is SBOA’s stand on re-employment of members when they reach 62?
Currently, only a few banks in Singapore are extending the services of their employees beyond 62. Most of them cite job redundancy and stop employing them by offering the Employment Assistance Payment (EAP). Some members don’t mind the EAP but they want a better pay out. We do approach the bank’s management when such requests come up. Most of the time they can be resolved. On the other hand, we also have some banks which are graciously extending the services of their staff beyond 62. You don’t even have to approach them at all about the matter.
You also mentioned leadership renewal as a challenge. How is SBOA addressing this?
We have been on the lookout for the younger generation in SBOA to take up leadership roles. However, nowadays they are very reluctant to come forward to do union work as they say they do not have the time and are busy with their career. This makes it difficult for us to get new faces in. Some of us in the current executive council are already beyond 62. The rest of the members are in the age group of 40 to 50. We are working hard on this. We have asked the current members in the executive council to identify potential officers who can be brought into their branch committees for exposure.
What is SBOA doing about preparing members for technological changes in the banking industry?
We encourage all our members to take up upskilling courses and make use of their SkillsFuture credit. We have also encouraged our members to approach NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) to get more information about available courses. Most of the banks in Singapore are represented on our executive committee and these members will spread the message about upskilling to union members at their respective workplaces.
What is it about union work that you cherish?
It is always satisfying to see the happiness on our members' faces when we have helped them solve their problems. My work is such that I have to work on weekends. Even on my off day during the week, I will spend half the day in the union office attending to issues and trying to help any member I can.
Source: NTUC This Week
