By Avelyn Ng
The Metal Industries Workers’ Union (MIWU) held its 11th General Convention of Delegates (GCD) on 3 August 2017 to elect their executive committee for the next four-year term. About 230 delegates, observers and tripartite partners attended.
There is no change to key appointment holders, except for Sapiyah Mohamed, who now assumes the role of assistant general treasurer from assistant general-secretary.
Union’s Achievements
In his speech, MIWU President Toh Hock Poh highlighted that more companies are seeing the value in training their workers and embarking on productivity programmes. As a result, retrenched workers have more than halved to 349, as compared to the 933 reported at the last GCD.
“As a union, we are concerned about improving the lives of our workers. I am glad to report that despite the uncertain economic conditions, we were able to secure for our members an average of 3.7 per cent in annual increment over the last four years. This was slightly higher than the 3.25 per cent average as compared to the last GCD,” said Mr Toh.
Amongst other milestones, he noted that the union has grown its membership by some 2,700 to over 24,000 in spite of the attrition at branches due to restructuring efforts. MIWU also added nine new branches to their network.
On the sidelines of the GCD, long service awards of different tiers were presented to branch officials who have been with MIWU for a minimum of 10 years, and up to 35 years.
Tackling Tomorrow’s Challenges
A central theme at the GCD was technological innovation – something which MIWU has been encouraging through its various learning journeys and activities. At the event, MIWU staff guided attendees to make use of the Google Cardboard goggles and a mobile application to experience virtual reality on the spot.
NTUC Assistant Secretary-General and Director of Future Jobs, Skills & Training Department Patrick Tay was also there to share the potential growth areas that workers can explore. He suggested some courses supported by SkillsFuture Singapore that machinists, engineers and technicians can tap on to build up their digital competencies.
Source: NTUC This Week
