The Food Drinks and Allied Workers' Union has come a long way. Today it is the proud owner of two buildings, the FDAWU Tower and the FDAWU Villa. The FDAWU Tower houses the union's office, while the FDAWU Villa comprise apartments for rent.
There are three lessons that we can learn from this achievement.
Firstly, the union slogan Unity is Strength is not mere words. It is true. Individually, none of the members of FDAWU can afford to make such an investment. Yet collectively, the small amounts that each member contributes in union subscriptions can go a long way.
In the short history of the labour movement in Singapore, we have many examples of how the collective strength of workers can be harnessed to achieve big things that individuals can only dream of. For example, the small amounts that individuals contribute to the initial share capital of supermarket co-operatives have spawned NTUC FairPrice, now the leading supermarket chain in Singapore. Recently some people have bemoaned the lack of home-grown enterprises. Yet we have examples of labour-linked co-operatives that are home-grown successes. They followed the dictum that 'unity is strength' to accumulate the capital to start! If ordinary workers can succeed, there is no reason why SMEs cannot - if they would borrow the concept that our workers have adopted.
The second lesson is thrift. FDAWU members are not well paid. Therefore the amount of membership subscriptions that the union could reasonably collect has been small. FDAWU leaders, led by Tan Soon Yam, knew that the membership fees were hard-earned money, and they had to spend it carefully. So they have been as thrifty as they can, recycling whenever possible.
Because they have been careful with spending members' money, FDAWU leaders decided that paying rent was wasteful. So from the early days, they acquired their own union office space. They had sold, and upgraded the office premises over time.
A big part of the current FDAWU came from the former Food and Beverages Industries Workers' Union. Their leaders had also used the principle of 'unity is strength, and had also been thrifty.
The old generation of union leaders imbibed the traditional values of diligence and thrift. They have carefully, and painstakingly, built up the resources of the union. Today this old generation union leaders have built a solid foundation. They want the union to continue protecting and helping workers when they retire. Today the FDAWU not only has new office space to use, but also has apartments and space to rent out, to augment the income of the union.
That brings me to the third lesson. The right concepts and values are necessary. But if we do not have good leaders - selfless, committed, caring and far-sighted - there will be no results. Our union leaders cannot claim to have invented the concept of 'unity is strength' nor the first to espouse thrift. These are age old values. But it takes good leaders to apply these, and obtain results for workers.
Old union leaders cannot serve forever. Younger ones have to be found and groomed to carry on the work. I mentioned this yesterday at the Triennial Delegates' Conference of the Metal Industries Workers' Union. MIWU is not an old union, but the task of finding younger leaders is also at hand.
Today the labour movement in Singapore has more members than at any time in its history. It is also financially sound, with more assets than ever before. The continuing success of the labour movement will rest on how successful it is in finding younger people with the right character to carry on the mantle. Those who can retire now will still be able to guide the younger successors to make sure that they find their feet.
I thank Comrade Tan Soon Yam and the ExCo of FDAWU for inviting me to this historic occasion. It is an honour for me to share in the achievements of your union, and to draw lessons from your example.
