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They were bonded by teacher-and-student ties. Till today, Mr Peter Chee Jee Kiong, 46, still draws useful lessons from what Mr Cheah Chuan Hin, 62, candidly shared with him.
Their career paths crossed on the runways of ST Aerospace. Twenty-three years ago, Mr Chee joined as an apprentice where Mr Cheah was then serving as a Service Engineer in the workshop.
Mr Chee recalled he was once assigned to troubleshoot a piece of faulty equipment. Inexperienced and nervous, he sought Mr Cheah’s guidance. Without hesitation, Mr Cheah first calmed the young trainee down before guiding him to solve the problem.
“He coached me on how to approach the problem systematically using the technical manuals and circuit diagrams. He imparted some tips and gave me some time to analyse the problem and to propose a solution. This gave me a lot of confidence to do my job,” shared Mr Chee.
The experience left a deep imprint on Mr Chee, who continued to accumulate skills and knowledge on a wide range of avionics products from his mentor. Mr Cheah is very proud that under his guidance, Mr Chee has performed well and risen to the position of a Deputy Shop Manager today.
“It is very satisfying to see the younger staff I have mentored doing well in their career. I have been working in this job since I stepped into the working world. I am, therefore, happy to share my experience with my trainees,” said Mr Cheah, who was offered and accepted a reemployment contract with ST Aerospace (STA) Systems, which took effect on 19 March 2012.
The company and the Singapore Industrial & Services Employees’ Union (SISEU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 8 August 2011 to re-employ workers who reach the age of 62.
The MOU recognises the contributions of the re-employed workers by continuing to reward them with a one-month gratuity, performance bonuses, annual increments, medical benefits and leave entitlements.
This approach has placed the company on the highest level of the Labour Movement’s four-tiered re-employment framework that recognises companies that pro-actively seek out new initiatives to ensure that their re-employment efforts are sustainable and scalable.
