For the seventh time in a row, the Healthcare Services Employees’ Union (HSEU) well surpassed its membership target and stood up proudly with a membership strength of 25,159 on 4 February 2012. Along with celebrating the achievement of reaching the 25,000 membership milestone, this was also the day that marked HSEU’s eighth membership campaign.
The union and its members, branch officials, Executive Committee and its management partners gathered this year to set their vision for their next target - a 40,000 mark by 2015, as HSEU joins the Labour Movement’s march towards one million members. And towards that journey, the union has set its focus on recruiting 30,000 members in 2012.
“The union has done so well for membership…For 2015, you have set a target of hitting 40,000 and I have no doubts that you will hit it because all members, branch officials and Executive Committee members are working and promoting union membership and its benefits,” said NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Ong Ye Kung who was Guest-of-Honour at the event. He cited three critical success factors for a union to score well in membership.
He said: “The industry must be growing in the first place, and this industry is growing. There are new hospitals coming up in Sengkang and Jurong East. There are going to be more and more community hospitals and healthcare centres coming up. So, the future is very bright for this union. Secondly, it helps when branches are big… When branches are big with restructured hospital systems, you can have a high penetration rate by engaging the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and the management people. The third success factor is that there has to be benefits and values in the membership.”
DSG Ong highlighted that NTUC’s Social Enterprises and NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) are the basic ways in which members can find value and enjoy benefits. He further summed up: “More importantly, it is beyond the basics, it is what HSEU does for its members. That’s where all the branch officials and Executive Committee members come in - day-to-day, to solve their colleagues’ problems, help them negotiate for better employment terms and then they will feel a sense of ownership, a sense of togetherness, and they will become members.”
HSEU has grown by leaps and bounds over the years and is now home to 17 branches.Some new branches that have joined HSEU’s fold in recent years are NTUC Healthcare Cooperative Limited and Jurong Health Services Private Limited. In 2011, three new branch committees were also formed to better serve their members at the workplace. With these branches and new branch committees formed, HSEU has now evolved to a more vibrant union. HSEU Deputy Secretary-General Janet Khoo, who leads the membership wagon, also shared that the union inked a new U Associate Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Singapore Physiotherapy Association as the very first Professionals, Managers ad Executives (PME) outreach initiative by HSEU. Under this arrangement, the union has the potential of bringing 600 members into its care.
The multiple efforts by the union’s recruitment channels will continue as it strives to mark more milestones in its membership journey.
