Three individuals became Distinguished Service recipients at this year’s NTUC May Day Awards. The award category was the highest accolade for 2020.
The recipients were former Ministry of Manpower (MOM) Permanent Secretary Loh Khum Yean; former Public Service Division (PSD) Permanent Secretary Yong Ying-I; and Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) Executive Director Koh Juan Kiat.
They were given the award for their commitment to protect the job-related needs and welfare of workers.
NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng said: “A fundamental reason for Singapore’s success lies in the strong tripartite relationship that we uphold between the Government, employers and unions. A central tenet to that is putting workers at the heart of all that we do.”
Mr Ng elaborated that the highest awardees have worked closely with NTUC and the unions throughout their careers to ensure workers have better wages, welfare and work prospects.
“It is strong partnerships such as these that will be key in ensuring our workers are supported and protected whether in good times or bad,” he added.
Mr Loh is currently the Permanent Secretary for PSD and the Ministry of Law. He was a key member of the Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers and continues to champion this cause in his current role, leading the public service to raise the retirement age to 63 and offering re-employment to eligible public officers till 68 years of age, from 1 July 2021, one year ahead of the national schedule.
He holds a personal belief of the upmost importance to work closely with unions. To strengthen union-management partnership, PSD regularly shares the public service’s strategic direction with union leaders, inviting them to the annual closed-door Public Service Conference.
Read Khum Yean's interview here, and full citation here.
In her time with PSD, Ms Yong worked with the unions to implement several initiatives ahead of national legislations for the public service. This included raising the re-employment age from 65 to 67.
She also led PSD in working with other agencies on the Protection from Harassment Act and pushed for the Act to include workers delivering essential public services.
Ms Yong is currently the Ministry of Communications and Information Permanent Secretary.
Read Ying-I's interview here, and full citation here.
Mr Koh was deeply involved in the introduction of re-employment for older workers and worked with the tripartite partners to help it gain acceptance and adoption among employers.
Under Mr Koh’s leadership, SNEF supported many proposals to create more family-friendly workplaces to enhance job opportunities for women.
During economic downturns, he collaborated with tripartite partners to encourage companies to focus on cost-cutting measures to save jobs, and to invest in the upskilling of workers.
Read Juan Kiat's interview here, and full citation here.
Learn more about all of this year’s awardees in the May Day 2020 e-magazine.
