Good Evening Comrades,
This is the first reception cum dialogue for Union Leaders. The theme of this first dialogue is the NTUC workplans for 2005. A workplans seminar was held in early January this year and some of you might have attended that event as well. We presented the key initiatives under the workplans at the seminar. As affiliates, you need to know what these workplans are, because they will be implemented through you.
In drawing up the workplans for this year, NTUC has adopted the approach of putting ourselves in the shoes of the stakeholders – workers, union members, unions, employers and staff. We focus on the needs of the stakeholder and the things we need to do. This way, we can be more sensitive to the needs. This way, we can be more effective. This way, we can achieve a sustainable growth.
One of the important factors in ensuring the sustainability and effectiveness of the union movement is leadership. Leadership at all levels.
I have spoken on this topic of leadership on several occasions. A thorough discussion on this topic would take a few days at least. Let me highlight one particular area – leadership renewal - getting members, especially the younger ones, to step forward to serve as leaders at the various levels.
We often hear feedback that it is very difficult to find members to step forward to serve, especially the younger ones. We hear that young Singaporeans are increasingly more career-minded and not interested to make the step forward. We should take a critical look at this. If we are wrong in our assumption that younger Singaporeans do not have a sense of community service, we will be shortchanging ourselves!
Are our young willing to serve the community? Let me give a couple of examples to show that they are.
The first is reaction to the Tsunami disaster. It was a very unfortunate catastrophe. There was a huge outpouring of sympathy from many quarters within Singapore. Many people donated money. There were also many people who came forward to commit their time to help. Some committed not only time, but also risked on their own health and safety.
One of our colleagues in NTUC has friend who worked in one of the hospitals. She quit her job to join the humanitarian efforts in Aceh before the tsunami disaster. When the disaster struck, she went back to Aceh again, committing her time and putting her career on further hold. In some of our hospitals, I am told that many members of the staff had volunteered to travel to Aceh to help. Not all of them could go in end, because the manning in our hospitals would be affected if all of them who volunteered were allowed to go!
I also know of a young man who is taking 2 weeks leave to go to Aceh to help build new homes for the people who have lost their homes when the tsunami struck.
The second is one of our young Industrial Relations Officers. She put her career on hold and committed herself to mission work for about a year in central Europe and central Asia. After she came back to Singapore, she volunteered her time in a kindergarten.
The calling might be different for different people. The key for us is to find what would excite younger persons and make serving in the labour movement their calling.
During my recent tea sessions with some of the young persons, I asked them how they would reply to the comment that today’s young are not socially committed. They said the young are socially committed. They want to serve, but they do not find the present establishment grassroots organisations interesting. They want to serve but they find these organizations stifling. Ask them to join existing grassroots organizations, they would decline. But they know of many instances when someone suggested raising funds for a cause, and spontaneously many would dig into their pockets to chip in. And they do not even think of tax exemption receipts!
This is where the real challenge is.
I believe there are plenty of young persons who are prepared to commit to a social cause, provided they are excited about the cause. They have to find the social cause meaningful. It has to appeal to them. They have different ideas of how the cause can be pursued from the incumbents of grassroots organizations. So they want the space to do it the way they feel it should be done.
Leadership renewal is important in any organization. I shared with the participants at the last Workplan Seminar about what the CEO of Nestle said when he was in Singapore last year for a workshop. He told the participants that he started to look for a successor he was appointed as the CEO! I am not surprised by his statement because I started looking for my successor the day I was first elected Secretary-General of NTUC.
I am not insisting that you all do the same. But a smooth transition in leadership cannot be done over night. For example, sometimes a few potential leaders are identified at the branches, but before they are ready to be given greater responsibilities, they leave the company for one reason or another. We have to start again. It takes time and a conscious effort.
Each of you holds a key to the continued success of our union movement. Each of you can touch the lives of the members you serve and make a difference. Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. Before you can convince them, you must yourself believe! You must believe in importance of the role of the union movement. You must believe that if we want the organization that we lead to prosper and growth in a sustainable manner, we as leaders would need to ensure that the best people take over the torch and lead the way forward.
I hope that you will make use of the opportunity presented this evening to engage in a fruitful discussion on various topics in the workplans. You must yourself believe before you can convince your members that these are the right things for them!
Thank you.
