Union leader Kesavan Vasundran, 37, has his work cut out for him.
An assistant manager for logistics at Suntec Singapore, he was recently elected president of the Building Construction And Timber Industries Employees’ Union (BATU) in August 2020.
He got married that same month, and he and his wife are now expecting their first child.
But having huge responsibilities on his shoulders has not daunted Kesavan one bit. He remains determined to stay on the path he embarked on seven years ago.
NTUC: How did your journey as a union leader begin?
Kesavan Vasundran: I first started as a branch official at the Suntec Convention branch. My chairman, Brother Chandra, talked to me and asked me to join the branch. It started like that; he introduced me to the union.
He was a very strong mentor who guided me. Before I became a branch official, Brother Chandra kept talking about what the union has done, what the branch has done, how the branch and management raised issues faced during their time, and also how members can get the best benefits and privileges from NTUC and the union. Plus, the protection that they get from becoming a union member.
What made me decide to become a branch official was that the branch had many members. When I had problems, there was somebody to pull me up, to help me. It’s the same thing I’m doing for other colleagues – I want to help them settle their issues and pull them up to have a better future and upgrade themselves.
That was in 2013. Today, you are BATU president. How do you feel about taking on this responsibility?
I’m very much overwhelmed to become the president. I’m happy that I can put forward a lot of new ideas out there. For BATU, most of our members are low-wage workers – the cleaners and construction workers, landscape technicians. But the thing that I always ask is: “Have we touched everybody? Have we touched every member in a good way? Is every member’s voice being heard?”
That is something that is always on my mind.
We have to adjust to the new normal now. How are we going to bring BATU to a higher level? How are we going to let the members know what BATU can offer? We have to go into a completely different frame. What courses can the members take to upgrade themselves?
For me, I learned that upgrading is the most important thing that every worker in Singapore has to do. Workers shouldn't stop upgrading because everything is changing.
BATU has to get all the people to upgrade as much as possible, give them better platforms to do so. And try to make sure that they understand what they can do to get this done.
BATU members were recently affected by retrenchment exercises as a result of COVID-19. How did the union step in to help?
When COVID-19 started, the first thing we did was give out care packs for all the cleaners. We appreciated all the cleaners because they were working double the shift and double the time. BATU also collaborated with Temasek Holdings to give out masks to construction site workers.
At Suntec where I work, about 50 per cent of my colleagues got retrenched. That was an unfortunate moment for us. It was a very, very difficult period.
Before the company made the announcements, my chairman and I received the list of workers who were about to be retrenched.
From there, we went out to find at least three to four job opportunities for members. We also did profiling for non-members to get them job opportunities.
When it comes to the workers, you can't say members or non-members. They were all my colleagues. My members will be my priority, but we will still help you as much as possible even if you’re not a member.
How do you feel after going through that exercise?
I first felt that I lost the battle. As much as possible, I wanted more people to stay. We tried our best. At the start, it was like 60 per cent and 40 per cent, not even 50-50. Then we negotiated and asked questions.
If we didn’t negotiate, it would have stood at 60-40. We pushed, and pushed, and pushed. We asked the management: “Why can't we go for a bigger pay cut? Let’s hold for few more months as the Government is giving subsidies and grants.”
We tried as much as possible, and we were able to save another eight or nine workers.
I know that's not a huge number, but that is still nine people whom we fought for and made sure they kept their job.
We are not out of the woods yet. The economy is still in the process of recovering. How will BATU continue to help members in the coming months?
Not only BATU, but all unions also have to foresee any bleeding. The union should lookout for signs that a company is in trouble. They should start to prepare for what could happen.
Like for example, we have monthly meetings with the management to know how things are going. We have to make sure that we push as much as possible for them to give us a good answer. We do not want anything to happen suddenly, and more people start losing their jobs.
You have to have a firmer grip on all these branches and companies that you think are going to go through another wave of clearing people.
You don’t have an easy job. At the end of the day, why do you do it?
I’ll tell you this. When I was working at particular companies previously, I felt that as an employee, my voice wasn't heard. Some people were not treating their employees well. Now, I'm happy that I'm in this position because I can understand how other people feel.
When I was an employee, and I was right at the bottom of the chain, people mistreated me by not paying overtime and everything. There was nobody to help me; there was no voice; there was nobody I could turn to.
For me, even if I help one person by making his or her life better, then I'm happy.
