He has the honour of being one of the first to receive the SkillsFuture Fellowship Award given to individuals for their personal commitment to mentoring and developing the skills of others.
Mohamad Nazir Sani, 44, is the assistant general-secretary of the Union of Power and Gas Employees (UPAGE) and is an executive who oversees technical training at one of the power generation companies in Singapore.
Encouraging his members to train and upskill is at the heart of the work he does both at the workplace and in the union.
His Union Journey
I started in 2003 as a normal delegate with the union. In 2007, I became the Young UPAGE Chair. I was then exposed to organise events for members. One of the major events I was then involved in was a collaboration with Young NTUC to form the human flag during one of the National Day celebrations.
His Focus Areas
Skills upgrading is a focus area for UPAGE to prepare our workers both young and old in the event of retrenchment and redundancy, and this is one area I am looking into now.
Currently the power generation companies are facing challenges such as overcapacity. For example, while we have ten machines, we are only running half of the fleet. Also, a lot more power stations have come into the market and our market share has gone down.
Furthermore, the newer power generation companies run machines with in the latest technology while the older ones are running with old machines which are less efficient.
Upskilling Workers
In terms of educating workers about the skillsets, UPAGE has worked with NTUC to promote the SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace. This is also part and parcel of preparing our members for future jobs and the future economy.
As a result, there is now greater awareness of the need to embrace and go along with technological changes. Besides the SkillsFuture Credit and Union Training Assistance Programme (UTAP), our union also has a skills upgrading grant which members can take advantage of.
We have been spreading the message of upskilling during our branch meetings. On a personal basis, when members come to us with their grievances, we also take the opportunity to spread the upskilling message to them.
In the power generation sector, you need to be multi-skilled. While it is good to have engineering skills, if you get a chance to multi-task you can learn more things. These include learning more about human resources and finance. The power generation sector is a niche market especially for those in operations.
Due to the downturn in the industry, UPAGE has been talking to the power generation companies to either cross-train, reskill or multi-skill the workers so that they remain relevant and employable.
I recommend that our workers expand their horizons beyond engineering. That is what I did. I am from the operations background. I have a diploma in electrical engineering, and my degree is in human resources management, and I believe this can make me more employable.
UPAGE and the ITMs
UPAGE was involved in the Energy & Chemicals Industry Transformation Map (ITM) together with the other Oil, Petrochemical, Energy and Chemical Cluster unions.
At the same time, UPAGE also worked closely with the Energy Market Authority specifically on the Skills Framework for Energy and Power.
This is due to the fact that the ITM does not really cover the power generation and utilities transmission industries. This Skills Framework allows Workforce Singapore and SkillsFuture Singapore to understand better the skillsets needed at the various levels and for cross training.
His Personal Mantra on Training
It must be an ongoing top priority. I just completed a course in Develop & Implement In-House Competency & Career Pathing Framework. I had to submit a 35-page assignment for this course. And as part of the SkillsFuture Fellowship Award, I have pledged to do my Masters in Human Capital Management which is a continuation of my degree.
Good To Know
Union of Power and Gas Employees
Date of registration: 28 September 1995
Date of affiliation to NTUC: 6 October 1995
Membership: 5355 members
