Flashback to 1983, and public bus services were transiting from a two-man to a one-man operated model. A young Fang Chin Poh, then aged 23, had just become a bus driver at SBS Transit.
At the time, new bus drivers like him were constantly rotated on different routes. He had wanted a permanent bus route but was told that he had to bribe the roster officer in charge to secure it. He thought it was unfair and decided to approach the union, the National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU). The rest, as they say, is history.
Chin Poh started life in the Labour Movement as a branch committee member of SBS Transit. He was the salt of the earth, a man who was soft-spoken yet fiercely dedicated to the workers’ cause. Little did he know that his foray into union work would become a rewarding 38-year journey to help fellow workers.
“When I was elected into the branch committee, I wanted my branch members to be fairly treated. I wanted to help change their work conditions, their environment, and (put a stop to) unfair things like having to buy gifts for someone to have better services and better routes,” he said, in an interview with The Straits Times.
Elected in 1999 as the General Secretary (GS) of NTWU, he later became a member of the NTUC Central Committee from 2007 to 2011 and is currently serving as a member of the Public Transport Tripartite Committee.
Over the years, the veteran unionist has received many accolades for his work, the most recent being the Comrade of Labour (Star) (Bar) award at the May Day Awards 2021.
Now aged 61, he has experienced many trials and tribulations in his union career, such as the bus contracting model, the illegal bus workers strike, and COVID-19.
A youthful Fang Chin Poh addressing delegates at an NTWU convention.
One of the first things Chin Poh did as a young unionist was to provide a better environment for bus drivers to take their meals. During the 1980s, old scrap buses had been transformed into eating spaces, but these were often hot and not too comfortable.
NTWU worked with the management and the transport authority at the time to set up properly air-conditioned canteens at bus interchanges to serve affordable food to bus workers as well as the general public.
“We told the canteen operators that they must serve the bus captains first so that they don’t have to queue. We also reserved some seats at all the canteens for bus captains only. This would give them time to eat and a proper place to do so,” said Chin Poh, in a separate interview with NTUC.
Today, NTWU operates 52 canteens in bus interchanges islandwide.
Change is the only constant these days, and it is no different in the public transport sector. Throughout the transformation journey, the union has always played the role of intermediary between Government policies and workers on the ground.
This was evident when the bus contracting model (BCM) was adopted in 2016. The BCM brought all the public buses and related infrastructure under the ownership of the Government to improve bus services overall. Under the new model, public transport operators had to bid for the right to run services along the different bus routes. This led to new operators entering the market to have a slice of the pie.
Before the BCM was introduced, the union had been engaging its members to give them advance notice, explain the rationale for the move, and reassure them that they would not lose their jobs. Hence, despite the initial resistance towards transiting to new operators, workers gradually came to accept the change. Chin Poh also ensured that transiting workers were not worse off in terms of salary and benefits; and continued to be recognised for their length of service.
Now with autonomous buses coming onboard, Chin Poh and his team have their work cut out for them.
“Initially our members were afraid because they thought they would lose their jobs. We explained to them that these jobs may temporarily disappear, but there will be new jobs created like safety officers or customer service officers.
“We have to keep going to the ground to encourage them to take courses, to go for training,” he told NTUC.
As the industry continues to evolve, Chin Poh acknowledged that training is key because workers need to keep pace with advancements. Under the Company Training Committee initiative with SBS Transit, NTWU has worked with the management to train the first batch of 30 bus drivers to take on simple maintenance work.
The industry has seen its fair share of crises over the years, and Chin Poh has faced them with unflinching strength and fortitude.
During the illegal bus strike of 2012 by 102 SMRT bus drivers from China, he wasted no time in getting to the heart of the problem. According to the Chin Poh, the workers were not used to the living environment in the dormitories, where they had to share kitchen and restroom facilities.
“We spoke to them and asked them to cool down. Then we quickly engaged management to discuss how to improve their environment. Management listened to us and moved them into HDB flats.
“My learning point is that we need to understand these people, their culture, where they come from. If we did that in the beginning, this wouldn’t have happened,” he shared with NTUC.
COVID-19 has been particularly hard on public transport workers, as many of them are from Malaysia. Chin Poh has been instrumental in rallying the ground to support the COVID-19-related measures to ensure workplace safety, implementing the vaccination programme for SBS Transit workers, and arranging for accommodation for Malaysian workers affected by border closures.
The tireless leader went all out to ensure that no workers were retrenched and that no pay cuts had to be endured by rank-and-file workers.
“We had to explain to them why they had to keep a safe distance or check their temperature.
"There were some who were stressed or disappointed that they couldn't go home, so we would visit (them at) their interchanges or accommodation to encourage them," Chin Poh told The Straits Times.
Fang Chin Poh posing for a photo during NTUC Newsroom's recent visit to the NTWU headquarters.
A full-time union leader since 1997, Chin Poh will be stepping down from his post as GS this year after 22 years at the helm. He plans to return to driving buses full-time and mentoring the next generation of drivers.
However, should the union require his assistance, he will be more than happy to contribute his experience.
