By Avelyn Ng
National Day Awards 2017 recognises a total of 4,323 individuals across 21 categories. Out of 183 civilians who are appointed the prestigious Public Service Medal, four are from our Labour Movement family.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office website, the medal may be awarded to “any person who has rendered commendable public service in Singapore or for his achievement in the field of arts and letters, sports, the sciences, business, the professions and the labour movement.”
So, in this article, we looked into what made our brothers and sisters fitting of the award description.
Name: Mary Liew
Designation: NTUC Central Committee President, Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union General Secretary
With beginnings as early as 1982 in the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union (SMOU), Mary Liew’s experience has grown multifold with her expanding portfolios across divisions and eventually, the roles of general secretary in the executive committee in 2013 and president in NTUC central committee in 2015.
Under her leadership, SMOU’s membership has increased from some 3,400 in the 80s to more than 31,000 today, allowing the union to protect and represent more maritime workers at the workplace.
Ms Liew contributes substantially to the shipping community by fostering good partnerships and communication. She was involved in initialising the “Company-Union Rapport Exercise” to improve bipartite relationships in the maritime sector and promote tripartite relations at the national level.
With a strong compassion for the under-privileged, Ms Liew was instrumental in SMOU’s adoption of the Henderson Home for senior citizens. She also initiated the setup of the SMOU Care Fund in 2013 to provide aid to members facing financial difficulties.
Push for Upskilling
One of her chief priorities has been on pushing training and development of the workers.
In 2003, the Singapore Maritime Training Fund was established in collaboration with maritime authorities, shipping employers and other co-operating partners. The fund grooms quality seafarers who work on board Singapore flag ships by providing subsidies for them to attend maritime-related training programmes. In 2014, the Tripartite Maritime Manpower Taskforce was formed to build a sustainable pipeline of Singapore Core within the seafaring sector.
An avid advocate of lifelong learning and supporter of the SkillsFuture movement, Ms Liew is presently also the chairperson of the NTUC-Education and Training Fund (NETF) fundraising committee and co-chairperson of the essential domestic services sub-committee under the Council for Skills, Innovation and Productivity (renamed as the Future Economic Council since May 2017). She has initiated a donation of $650,000 from SMOU towards the NETF, which defrays cost incurred for union members to upgrade themselves.
Advocacies Abroad
Ms Liew was elected to serve in various committees of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) in 2002. In August 2010, she became the first woman from South East Asia to be elected into the ITF Executive Board. She was re-elected in 2014.
In the International Labour Organization (ILO), she assumed roles as a substitute member of the governing body (GB) representing the Workers’ Group, deputy member of the GB, and a substitute member of the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association.
In January 2016, she was appointed as a Member of the ILO Standards Review Mechanism Working Group. Representing Singapore, Ms Liew shared how the Labour Movement has continuously evolved to remain relevant to a more diverse working populace through in particular, its unique model of tripartism.
Name: Ong Hwee Liang
Designation: NTUC Central Committee Member, SIA Engineering Company Engineers and Executives Union General Secretary
Over the past 24 years in the Labour Movement, Ong Hwee Liang has played an instrumental role in strengthening the working relationship between the unions, corporations and government agencies, enabling all stakeholders to unite in upholding Changi Airport's status as a vibrant, world-class air hub. The setting up of the first airside café for apron workers in Changi Airport Terminal 2 was one such positive outcome.
As the General Secretary of SIA Engineering Company Engineers and Executives Union (SEEU), Mr Ong displays great resolution and adopts a team-centric leadership in the face of challenges. His talks with the management of SIA Engineering Company (SIAEC) have consistently produced improved benefits and welfare for the workers.
In 2016, several SIAEC staff were affected when a new joint venture by Airbus and SIAEC was announced. During the transition period, SEEU assisted the affected staff by working closely with other aviation unions to address members’ concerns and provided regular feedback to the management.
On a broader perspective, his participation in several NTUC committees and national tripartite committees has also elevated safety and service standards in the aviation and aerospace industry as a whole.
Name: Goh Sor Imm
Designation: Singapore Industrial & Services Employees’ Union Deputy Executive Secretary
Goh Sor Imm started her career with the Labour Movement in August 1990 as a research officer in the then Singapore Institute of Labour Studies (now Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute). She was posted to NTUC’s industrial relations department in 2001 and has risen through the ranks ever since.
In her current position as the deputy executive secretary of the Singapore Industrial & Services Employees’ Union (SISEU), she has championed benefits, sometimes even ahead of legislation, for low-wage workers, mature workers as well as professionals, managers and executives. With her fortitude and foresight, companies under SISEU branches have shown high adoption rates of associated schemes and best practices.
In 2015, when the number of retrenched workers under SISEU’s branches doubled, Ms Goh supervised and guided industry relations officers to not only fight for fair and reasonable severance packages, but also to ensure that they were provided with placement assistance. As an experienced industrial relations practitioner, she has handled the lion’s share of complex cases of company restructuring exercises and mitigated lots of hardship for the affected workers.
Name: Rahim Alwi
Designation: Amalgamated Union of Public Employees President
Rahim Alwi was first elected into the Amalgamated Union of Public Employees’ (AUPE) executive council in 1998, subsequently working his way up to the position of secretary in 1998 and vice-president in 2006. He is now the president at AUPE and branch chairman at the National Environment Agency (NEA).
Like his roots in the Labour Movement, he built his career from scratch as a rank-and-file civil servant in the Ministry of Health in 1971 to now, a senior manager at NEA. Being a dedicated public servant for 45 years, Rahim has accumulated a wealth of knowledge in every aspect of environmental health work such as cleansing, vector control, public education and enforcement.
As a committee member of the Public Health Inspectors (PHI) Branch in the then Ministry of Environment (now Ministry of Environment and Water), he put up key recommendations on remuneration as well as employment terms and conditions in the PHI Scheme of Service. The PHI Scheme of Service was subsequently restructured as the Environmental Health Officers Scheme of Service in 1998.
Rahim keeps members’ interests close to his heart and always goes the extra mile to ensure that grievances are given due attention and appropriate actions are taken. For his valuable contributions, he was awarded the National Day Efficiency Medal in 2002 and NTUC Comrade of Labour Award in 2010.
Since becoming the AUPE president in 2011, Rahim has inspired many young colleagues to come forward and serve in the branch committee. He constantly nurtures younger officers to become better leaders by bringing lessons to life through sharing of real examples and practical solutions.
