The National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) elected its new 28-member executive committee at the union's 12th Ordinary Convention of Delegates on 7 July 2017 at the Suntec City Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Rosmani Juraini and Fang Chin Poh remain the union’s president and general secretary respectively.
Mak Mun Whai, who was vice-president, has now taken the role of general treasurer. Tan Beng Soon, who was formerly an assistant general secretary, is now vice-president.
Other changes include Desmond Ong and Pannierselvam Balakrishnan who were elected assistant general secretary and assistant general treasurer.
The new committee will lead NTWU for a four-year term until the next convention in 2021.
Membership Milestone
The convention also saw NTWU reveal a new milestone, with 25,000 members today. The numbers have grown in the past four years by about 25 per cent from 19,872 since NTWU’s last Ordinary Convention of Delegates in 2013.
According to NTWU, new areas of membership growth came from seven new companies in the logistics, public transport and private bus industries.
The union had also put in efforts to retain its members through initiatives such as rebate schemes for long-term members and the creation of an NTWU Facebook page to keep members updated on its latest news and activities.
Some 300 NTWU delegates, cadre members, observers, management partners and government agencies were present at the convention.
Strengthening Partnerships
In his opening address, re-elected NTWU President Rosmani Juraini urged companies, workers, commuters and regulators to continue to strengthen partnerships and ensure all parties benefit from tripartite efforts.
“This is so that sectoral tripartism remains effective and relevant. Moving forward, strong and pervasive bipartism and tripartism will continue to be NTWU’s priorities. We will strive towards the promotion of networking and collaboration between our branches, government agencies and the Labour Movement family to achieve greater synergy, productivity and growth for the land transport and logistics industries. We will strive towards a tripartism that is future-ready,” he said.
Tripartite Efforts
The last four years saw NTWU being involved in several tripartite initiatives to help improve the lives of workers and the industry, based on the areas of care, fair and grow.
NTWU piloted a health screening project with the Health Promotion Board, NTUC U Live, SBS Transit and SMRT.
Working with the Government and public transport operators, the union ensured workers were protected and helped them transit through the introduction of the Bus Contracting Model.
NTWU also played a key role in the setting up of the Singapore Bus Academy, Singapore Rail Academy and the Logistics Industry Transformation Map to help prepare workers to keep their skills relevant and grow with the industry.
