By Vanessa Teo
Pictures contributed by Young NTUC
It’s right on track with its mission to be the largest and most vibrant youth movement in Singapore with youths who are active in a purposeful way, so what’s next for Young NTUC? It is none other than to form a vision for the coming years, and this was actively discussed at the Young NTUC Workplan Seminar that took place in Malaysia from 16 to 19 November 2011.
Recounting back on its past achievements, Young NTUC Executive Secretary Steve Tan brought participants through the journey of how Young NTUC grew from the then NTUC Youth Committee to what it is today. Despite its growth and changes, it was highlighted that leadership development was one constant that has always been in place, albeit exploring different avenues to bring in new leaders.
Shared Mr Tan: “Under the Youth Committee, there used to be only one leg, leadership development. So the unions nominated young leaders into this Youth Committee, and the Youth Committee did a lot of outward bound school, leadership training and so on. The whole focus was to bring you guys into the leadership fold…But under Young NTUC, we had two legs. So two thirds of the leg became membership development, and that was to do outreach and engagement. But one third of the leg was still there; the leadership development.”
And as it worked on its outreach and engagement, Young NTUC has been very successful in its events which included some of it signature ones such as Free Hugs Day, Young NTUC Celebrates! National Day, Young NTUC Coffeeshop Talk, Uth Campus and more. Through these engagement and outreach events, Young NTUC successfully reached out to many and achieved its mission to be one of the largest and most vibrant youth movements in Singapore.
It’s affinity groups and youth chapters also played a part in growing the membership base, and it’s through these groups that saw youth activists bloom and grow to take on leadership roles. Through Young NTUC’s support to the groups, youth chapters and activists started taking on leadership roles to organise activities, breaking away from the traditional secretariat led events.
“So in 2011, the emphasis has actually move towards ground up initiatives. Like the recent night kite flying programme, it was entirely done by our youth activists, and altogether we sold about 1000 over tickets. This was quite a lot of hard work, but it represents a maturing of the Young NTUC activists,” said Mr Tan.
And with its mission still being a key focus, it will also be looking forward to focus on its new vision, that is to be a movement of young workers striving for ‘Fair and Just Opportunities’ and ‘Sustainable Progress’ for all.
“The vision for Young NTUC is that we should be a movement of young workers, just like what we have determined here in the mission statement, but we should look at not just the play aspects… We should look at serious stuff as well… so for fair and just opportunities for every young worker, we want them to hold a skilled well paid job, to develop and pursue his dreams… “The other wing is actually sustainable progress, because this means improved human well being and social equity while significantly reducing environment risk and ecological scarcities…” said Mr Tan.
And under these two broad umbrellas, youth leaders at the workplan had an active discussion on how they could help the young people of Singapore achieve the two aspects of the vision as tailed below:
Fair and Just Opportunities
✔ To raise the real wages of young workers
✔ To provide opportunities to young workers to have continual education and training opportunities
✔ To provide platforms and opportunities for young leaders to be nurtured, to feel a sense of responsibility to society
✔ To ensure that all young workers have the fair chance for career progression and development
✔ To provide platforms for advocacy for young workers
Sustainable Progress
✔ To ensure the balanced integration of economic development, social development and environmental protection
✔ To promote environmental sustainability and awareness among young people
✔ To encourage youths to give back to society
✔ To provide a platform to communicate and interact with key stakeholders to achieve sustainable development
✔ To advocate youths’ related issues affecting society at large
Youth leaders had an intensive discussion in round table formats which followed with them penning down three commitments which they will strive to bring back to their workplaces to help achieve the new vision set.
Sharing Best Practices
Youth leaders at the Young NTUC Workplan Seminar also had the opportunity to take part in an exchange programme with the Genting Malaysia Workers Union, where participants had the privilege to listen in to a sharing session by its General Secretary Mr Robert Vijendran Henry. Mr Robert captivated the audience with his insightful experience as a union leader, and encouraged young leaders present to stand up for what they believe in.
Said Mr Robert: “Always have the pride that you are doing something good for the workers… when you are looked down upon as a trade union leader you must stand firm and look up.” Young NTUC Chairperson Benjamin Tang was also present to introduce Young NTUC to the Genting Malaysia Workers Union, truly making the session a sharing of best practices.
