Dear Comrades,
1. I have often been asked why trade unions affiliated to the NTUC have to be so closely identified with the PAP. Critics of the PAP-NTUC symbiotic relationship argue that such a tie-up is bad because unions are under government control and so cannot adequately represent the interests of workers. These critics are wrong.
2. In truth, the NTUC-PAP symbiotic relationship was born out of necessity; it is based on a shared vision and common goals and it is cemented by the strong trust and confidence that exist between the leaders of the two institutions. What are the shared vision and common goals? The NTUC wants to secure a better life for workers. The PAP government wants a better life for Singaporeans. So, the NTUC maintains a symbiotic relationship with the PAP to work together for the common good of Singapore. But because this relationship has lasted so long, there is the danger that it may be taken for granted. It is, therefore, important that successive generations of both PAP and NTUC leaders are made to understand the basis for this relationship and work hard to preserve these links.
3. As Comrade Lee Kuan Yew said at the NTUC’s 40th anniversary dinner in 2001, “the present generation … does not know how the founders of the PAP forged the close ties with Singapore’s trade unions, bonds which have lasted till today. A group of us built up PAP’s grassroots support by informally working with the unions. Through my position as legal advisor, we openly identified ourselves with union causes. Without the trade union base to mobilise workers, we could not within six months of founding the PAP in November 1954, have won four out of the five seats we contested in April 1955, nor won 43 out of 51 seats four years later in 1959.”
4. When the PAP held its inaugural meeting at the Victoria Memorial Hall in November 1954, 90 per cent of those present were trade unionists. More than half of the first Central Executive Committee were unionists. These unionists took great risks in throwing their lot with the PAP as the British colonial authorities saw the party as a threat to their continued domination of Singapore. True, some of these unionists turned out to be working in the interests of the communists. But the pro-communists lost out to the non-communists who then formed the NTUC in 1961.
5. The PAP-NTUC symbiotic relationship was formally endorsed in 1980 at the NTUC Ordinary Delegates Conference. In moving the motion, Mr Devan Nair who was the NTUC President at that time said, “while preserving their institutional independence, trade union leaders should work together with political leaders for the common good of Singapore… if the NTUC and PAP were to go their own ways, there will be confrontations and in a small country like Singapore, with limited resources it will be disastrous.”
6. But the symbiotic relationship between NTUC and PAP, obvious as it may be to all of us at this gathering, is often misunderstood. People have asked me whether the government appoints NTUC leaders. No, the government does not appoint NTUC leaders. Once every three years, elections are held in all unionised organizations. So every union member has the right to elect his trade union leaders, and this has to be done by secret ballot, a procedure that is enshrined in our law. Union delegates then gather, once every four years, to elect (again by secret ballot) 21 members of the NTUC Central Committee, the highest policy-making body of the union movement. All labour MPs have to go through this rigorous process. The same goes for Mr Lim Boon Heng, the NTUC Secretary-General, even though he is a Cabinet Minister. And when the workers vote their leaders, they are voting for the platforms and policies that the leaders stand for. They are therefore free not to elect candidates whom they think are not working in their interest. The fact that the workers support their current leadership is strong testimony of their support for our policies.
7. And what are the benefits of this symbiotic relationship? How do you measure them?
At every general election, whenever I asked my mother whom she would vote for, she would unhesitatingly said the PAP, and this was long before I became a PAP MP. My mother does not know about election manifestoes of either the PAP or the opposition. She does not know about clever arguments or debates. But she had seen during her lifetime the tremendous changes, which the PAP government had brought about. That was to her enough evidence to support the party. We had moved from slums to proper homes with water and electricity, and from massive unemployment to decent jobs. All these have been achieved in one generation.
8. There are very few countries in the world today that can match this record. In its efforts to eradicate poverty, the UN announced that by 2015, it intends to halve the poverty rate by using the 1990 poverty level as the basis. Today, the number of poor people globally has increased. At the beginning of this decade, 1.2 billion people live with less than US$ 2 per day; 186 million are unemployed and there are 500 million working poor.
9. A strong symbiotic relationship had brought about stability and industrial peace. With this came investments and jobs. Recently I visited an electronics factory. The Managing Director brought us around the plant. Each machine in the factory costs between US$100,000 to US$500,000. Each worker handles several machines at one time. The visit was most insightful. Without industrial harmony, very few companies would be prepared to make such heavy capital investments. Without investments, there would be no jobs.
10. So, maintaining industrial harmony is not just good for the government, but, more importantly it reaps tangible benefits for workers. But industrial harmony does not mean that we have to agree to everything that the government wants to do. From time to time, we do disagree but we do not have to settle the disagreement in the streets. We could make our views known and ensure that these are taken into consideration because the NTUC is represented at various policy-making levels.
11. With this strong NTUC-PAP symbiotic relationship, unions have been able to improve the workers’ quality of life. With the support of the government, we are able to provide some of the best social club facilities to our workers. We are able to run very successful co-operatives that help workers to stretch their dollar. We are able to make a tangible difference to the lives of workers. In March this year, we moved into our new home at One Marina Boulevard, which was developed with funds provided by the government, in recognition of this strong symbiotic relationship. In the words of Comrade Goh Chok Tong, “the new home is the fruit of the symbiotic relationship between the PAP and the workers.”
12. What about the future? What more can we do to strengthen the symbiotic relationship?
In 1960, when addressing trade unionists at the first May Day Rally under our own government, Comrade Lee Kuan Yew outlined the grim challenges that were facing Singapore. He urged workers and trade unionists to look beyond sectarian interests and rally behind the government, to build a new Singapore.
13. Since then, we have made tremendous progress. But we still face big challenges. We still do not have any natural resources, and the challenges are equally daunting. With shorter cycles of booms and busts, the job situation has become uncertain. The rapid pace of globalisation has intensified competition. In one conference that I attended, a government agency from a least developed country was disseminating brochures offering investors cheap labour. It promised that workers need only to be paid $US1 a day. Well our workers certainly cannot live on $US 1 a day. And they deserve to look forward to good wages and a good life. But this is a reminder of how desperate countries are to get investments and create employment.
14. It is also a reminder that we have to move up the value chain, as our cost cannot be the same as those in other countries. Today the investments that EDB attracts require workers with higher skills. For every three jobs created, two require higher skills. Although in the third quarter, our unemployment rate has gone down to 3.4%, a major concern is structural unemployment. Hence, the NTUC’s core focus is on helping our workers to upgrade and reskill themselves. With strong government support, we started the Skills Redevelopment Programme in 1996 and to date have achieved a total of 187,316 training places. We are in the midst of working on job redesigns for 12 sectors so that our older workers can continue to do these jobs and enjoy a better life. Our human resource development strategies have not gone unnoticed. In many of its publications, the ILO has made extensive references to Singapore’s efforts in developing its human resources.
15. The symbiotic relationship between NTUC and PAP, and collaboration with employers, has transformed Singapore in one generation. It has allowed us to progress much more smoothly and quickly than most countries. We must continuously refresh and reaffirm our commitment to this symbiotic relationship, particularly among our young, as our very survival depends on it. Under this strong leadership, workers and all Singaporeans have good reason to look forward to a better life.
Comrades, I call upon all of you to show your strong support for the PAP-NTUC symbiotic relationship.
Thank you.
