Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute Graduation Ceremony 2011

1    Today was a cause for celebration for 99 union leaders, industrial relations and human resource practitioners who graduated from the Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute’s (OTC Institute) milestone certificate and diploma programmes in industrial relations and employment relations.  The annual OTC Institute Graduation Ceremony is a major platform for the Labour Movement to recognise their dedication and efforts in their lifelong learning journeys.  These role models and their stories would serve as an inspiration to fellow union leaders, workers and management.

2    Held at the Orchid Country Club, the proud graduands received their certificates and diplomas from Guest-of-Honour Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and Manpower Tharman Shanmugaratnam.  Mr Tharman is also the Chairman of the OTC Institute Board of Governors. 

3    The breakdown is as follows:

    i.    OTC Institute Advanced Certificate in Industrial Relations (ACIR )– 45 graduands

    ii.   OTC Institute-UniSIM Diploma in Employment Relations (DER) – 36 graduands

    iii.  OTC Institute-NUS Extension Professional Diploma in Employment Relations (PDER) – 18       graduands

4    Both the ACIR and DER are programmes catered exclusively for union leaders, while the PDER is open to union leaders, industrial relations and human resource practitioners.

5    Topping the ACIR class is Mr Ho Wei Siong Vincent, a technician with The Polyolefin Company and a branch committee member of the United Workers of Petroleum Industry (UWPI), who received the Nithiah Nandan Award for his outstanding performance.  He was also presented the NTUC Income Achievement Award. 

6    For the DER programme, Mr Ramanathan s/o Doraisamy, a Quality Assurance engineer with Sanwa Intech Asia Pte Ltd and an official at the United Workers of Electronics and Electrical Industries (UWEEI), topped his cohort to win the Seah Mui Kok Award.  He also won the Shell Book Prize.

Recognising trainers, unions and management

7    Besides the certificates and diplomas presented to graduands, awards were also given out to honour trainers, unions and management who have contributed to the Institute’s programmes and activities.  NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say presented the awards (see Annex A for more details).

8    The Excellence Service Award which honours associate trainers who have performed consistently at a high level over the last three years was presented to Mr Selvam s/o Varathappan.  Mr Selvam is the course coordinator cum lecturer for the Financial Accounting module of the DER programme for the past eight years.  During this period, he has dedicated great effort in ensuring materials are kept current and relevant.

9    The Leadership Developer Award which honours unions that have demonstrated their strong commitment to developing union officials’ leadership capabilities through OTC Institute’s programmes was presented to three unions that have distinguished themselves in this area over last three years.  The recipients are:

• Amalgamated Union of Public Employees (AUPE)
• Healthcare Services Employees’ Union (HSEU)
• Union of Security Employees (USE)

10    The Workplace Partnership Awards are given to unions and management that have made efforts to forge and strengthen mutual understanding and cooperation through bipartite programmes at the OTC Institute.  This year’s award recipients are:

• Housing & Development Board Staff Union (HDBSU) and Housing Development Board.  Since formulating the Shared IR Vision in 2004, the union and management have been relentless ensuring all managers are well versed with managing industrial relations at the workplace through various workshops.  To bring that knowledge to new height, HDBSU and HDB started the HR Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) in IR for managers and union leaders.
  
• Public Utilities Board Employees’ Union (PUBEU) and Public Utilities Board.  Over the past seven years, the union and management have jointly organised workshops reaching out to more than 500 managers and supervisors in PUB to achieve better IR at the workplace.  This has since become a core training programme at PUB.
  
• Union of Power & Gas Employees (UPAGE) and Singapore Power (SP) Group of Companies.  UPAGE and SP have jointly organised many programmes over the years to strengthen union-management relationship at the operation level.  This year, 53 SP’s middle managers attended various levels of HR WSQ in IR programme.

11    Mr S Thiagarajan, Director, OTC Institute, said, “We are proud of all graduands today especially our union leaders who have committed themselves to further learning to increase their knowledge and strengthen their capabilities.  In the process, they have proven themselves to be an inspiration to their fellow leaders and members.  At the OTC Institute, we are committed to nurturing and developing leaders at all levels so that we can support the Labour Movement’s 3-Flow union leadership and development framework.”

12    About 250 people attended the event comprising members of the OTC Institute Board of Governors as well as graduands and their family members.

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