Veteran union leader and founding member of the Union of Power and Gas Employees (UPAGE) Nachiappan RK Sinniah has passed away on 16 March 2021 at the age of 67 due to ill health.
He is survived by his wife and daughter.
Fondly known as Nachi to those in the Labour Movement, he devoted more than 30 years of his life to serve workers, his union and the nation.
Mr Nachiappan started union work in the 1980s and eventually rose to become the deputy general secretary of the Public Utilities Board Staff Union in 1989.
In 1999, he began helming UPAGE as its general secretary, four years after the union was founded. He held the position of UPAGE emeritus general secretary from 2015 until his passing.
He had been a reassuring presence in looking after the interests of workers according to those who knew him.
Over the decades, he led UPAGE through its period of growth as well as rounds of restructuring and liberalisation activities in the power and gas sector.
Under his leadership, UPAGE maintained constructive and proactive labour-management relations in the industry, and in turn, made positive changes to the lives of workers. He was known as a principled leader with the ability to forge fair outcomes for all.
Mr Nachiappan was also a firm believer in and an advocate of workers’ training.
In 2010, he led UPAGE to work with industry partners and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (now known as Workforce Singapore) to launch the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications framework for the energy sector. The framework was a structured approach to providing re-skill and multi-skill training for workers.
Mr Nachiappan had always been known as a selfless unionist who identified with vulnerable workers and those experiencing hardship.
For his decades of contribution towards improving workers’ wages, welfare and work prospects, he was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2011 and the May Day Comrade of Labour (Star) Award in 2014.
In a Facebook post, NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng said: “Today, we lost a leader, a comrade, a brother. Brother Nachi was a colossus in UPAGE. He led with vision, competence and compassion over the years, first as a founding member and eventually as emeritus general secretary.
“Brother Nachi was a strong voice for workers, ever ready to do more and better for them, always putting the needs of others before himself. He gave so much to so many. His work and life served as powerful examples. I bade farewell to Nachi yesterday while holding his hands. Rest in peace. My deepest condolences to Brother Nachi’s family.”
NTUC President Mary Liew and Mr Ng also penned a condolence letter to Mr Nachiappan's family.
In it they said: "Brother Nachi's contributions and legacy will live on and continue to inspire for years to come. In his courage, perseverance, righteousness, warmth and unflagging dedication to champion the interests of workers, Brother Nachi was a true union leader to his fellow workers, UPAGE, and the Labour Movement. He will be dearly missed by all of us."
Current UPAGE General Secretary Abdul Samad Abdul Wahab considered Mr Nachiappan as more than a mentor.
“He was like a big brother figure to all younger unionists. He was a great man and his passing is not only a loss to the union or to the Labour Movement, but to the nation as a whole. He was committed to the cause of workers up to the end. I visited him a few weeks ago when he was unwell. He was still asking about the welfare of our workers and on raising the re-employment age for older workers. That was how dedicated he was. His legacy will live on at UPAGE and we will continue the good work he has done," said Mr Samad.
Mr Nachiappan’s wake is held at Singapore Casket. His cortege will leave on 17 March 2021 at 5.30pm for a private cremation at Mandai Crematorium.
