This year, NTUC is conferring the top May Day Awards accolade on tripartite partners who have made significant contributions towards better wages, welfare and work prospects for our workers. The three Distinguished Service award recipients are:
Underscoring the importance of tripartism, these exemplary individuals have been actively involved in various tripartite initiatives that sought to better protect the employment and job-related needs of workers as well as safeguard workers’ welfare.
Notably, the three awardees have each been involved in efforts to safeguard workers’ retirement adequacy. As a stalwart of the SNEF, Brother Juan Kiat 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. Both Brother Khum Yean and Sister Ying-I also championed this cause in their prior roles with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and PSD respectively. Under Sister Ying-I’s leadership, PSD consulted the unions and implemented several initiatives ahead of national legislations for the Public Service, such as raising the re-employment age from 65 to 67. Brother Khum Yean 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 in raising 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.
Workers have also benefitted from the awardees’ efforts to champion better workplace conditions and greater employment standards. As a strong believer in the merits of work-life strategies, SNEF, under Brother Juan Kiat’s leadership, supported many proposals to create more family-friendly workplaces to enhance job opportunities for women. Sister Ying-I led PSD in working together with other agencies on the Protection from Harassment Act and also pushed for the expansion of the protection to include workers delivering essential public services. During Brother Khum Yean’s tenure in MOM, changes were made to the Employment Act (EA), including extending protection to more workers such as Professionals, Managers and Executives and raising employment standards.
A common thread that binds the awardees lies in their commitment to working harmoniously with tripartite partners. Brother Khum Yean holds a personal belief of the upmost importance to work closely with unions. To strengthen union-management partnership, PSD will regularly share with union leaders the Public Service’s strategic direction, inviting them to the annual closed-door Public Service Conference. Recognising the importance of Tripartism to Singapore, Sister Ying-I supported the secondment of public officers to NTUC and attachment of public officers to unions under NTUC’s Labour Movement Attachment Programme. This allows the next generation of Public Service leaders to appreciate how tripartism works. Brother Juan Kiat played a key role during economic downturns, collaborating with unions and tripartite partners to encourage companies to focus on cost-cutting measures to save jobs, and to invest in upskilling workers during trying times.
Impressing upon the importance of tripartism, 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. Our highest awardees are exemplary individuals who have demonstrated this throughout their careers, working closely with NTUC and our unions to bring about better wages, welfare and work prospects for our workers. 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.”
Full citations of MDA 2020 highest awardees are available at www.ntuc.org.sg/MayDayAwards2020.
Read our May Day Awards 2020 e-magazine here.
