Tripartism is an important cornerstone of Singapore’s peaceful labour relations. It requires all partners to be strong and responsible so that together they can tackle issues and crises, and contribute to nation building. For the Labour Movement to remain a strong voice for working people, it needs strong union leadership – leaders who are passionate to serve their fellow workers and possess the skills and knowledge to be an effective leader.
Today’s event is a timely reminder for strong union leadership as the Labour Movement celebrates with 64 of them 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 OTC Institute Advanced Certificate in Industrial Relations (ACIR) and the OTC Institute-UniSIM Diploma in Employment Relations (DER).
The annual OTC Institute Graduation Ceremony is a major platform for the Labour Movement to recognise the union leaders’ 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.
Held at the Orchid Country Club, the proud graduands received their certificates and diplomas from Guest-of-Honour Acting Minister for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin. Both the ACIR and DER programmes are catered exclusively for union leaders (see Annex A for course descriptions).
Topping the ACIR class is Ms Amelia Foo Sui Ling, a senior flight stewardess with SilkAir and a branch representative of Singapore Airlines Staff Union (SIASU), who received the Nithiah Nandan Award for her outstanding performance. She was also presented the NTUC Income Achievement Award.
For the DER programme, Ms Santha Raman, a teacher with the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) and a branch chairman of the Singapore Manual and Mercantile Workers’ Union (SMMWU), topped her cohort to win the Seah Mui Kok Award. She also won the Shell Book Prize.
Recognising unions and management
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. Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is also the Chairman of OTC Institute’s Board of Governors presented the awards (see Annex A for more details).
The Leadership Trailblazer Award honours unions that have demonstrated their sustained commitment to developing union officials’ leadership capabilities through OTC Institute’s programmes and activities. This year’s award six recipients are:
For unions with 200 or more officials:
For unions with 50 to 199 officials:
For unions with less than 50 officials:
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 seven recipients are:
Mr S Thiagarajan, Director, OTC Institute, said, “We congratulate our graduands who have demonstrated their commitment to further learning to increase their knowledge and strengthen their capabilities so that they can be effective union leaders, all these on top of balancing their work and families. It is also very encouraging to see management and their unions work together to support leadership learning and development. I urge more employers to play their part in supporting such development and renewal.”
About 250 people attended the event comprising members of the OTC Institute Board of Governors as well as graduands and their family members.
