Welcome to our new home!
This is my 24th May Day! Just over 23 years ago in January 1981, Mr Lim Chee Onn, the then Secretary-General of the NTUC, invited me for lunch at his office in the Singapore Conference Hall. The month before, I had been newly elected a Member of Parliament. Over a packet of cold char kway-teow, Mr Lim Chee Onn asked me to join the NTUC. I said “Yes”. Startled by my immediate acceptance, he asked me, then a senior executive at Neptune Orient Lines, to think about it for 3 days, and then let him know. I was puzzled! But I called him back 3 days later to tell him the answer was still “Yes”. So on 1 February 1981, I reported to NTUC.
My learning journey commenced.
Unionists told me that employers were a greedy lot, out to exploit workers at every turn. Workers had to fight for everything! Wage increases were obtained only after hard bargaining. I attended meetings, and followed seasoned unionists to branch meetings, and after that had a bite to eat with them at the hawker centres. The NTUC library had a wealth of material, and I pored over them, reading what unionists here and overseas were fighting for. The rhetoric that local and international trade unionists used were colourful and passionate.
After a while, I drew my first conclusion: “Everyone wants a wage increase each year, and this year should be better than the last, and next year should be better than this year. The increases should be higher than inflation. In other words, every worker hopes to improve his standard of living with each passing year, and that comes only from real wage increases.”
But how is an employer going to be able to provide real wage increases? The Productivity Movement had been launched in 1981. We were told to learn from the Japanese. So I read up about productivity, and found that Japanese manufacturing productivity growth rose faster than real wage increases. That was why the Japanese companies were so competitive! So I drew my second conclusion: “Workers will enjoy real wage increases only when productivity rises. Jobs are more secure when the company remains competitive. So wage increases should lag behind productivity growth.”
The third conclusion I drew was from conversations with union leaders who negotiated with management. Sometimes the going was tough; sometimes it was easy. It was tough when the economy wasn’t doing so well. It was easy when the company was making good profits, and the labour market was tight. My third conclusion was: “Create the conditions for companies to thrive and make good money, then workers will get good wage increases.”
The fourth conclusion I drew from the 1985-86 recession. Workers were retrenched, in large numbers. “It is no use talking about wage increases if a worker has no job. The first thing that has to be done is to get the worker a job. And better a pay cut to save jobs than to blindly refuse.”
Through the 1980s, I learnt a fifth, and probably the most important lesson from the many industrial relations disputes I came across: “For good industrial relations, there must be trust. Trust comes about from openness and fairplay.” If workers do not understand, they cannot accept painful measures, and they will resent if those measures are forced down on them. If one is honest and frank, and willing to discuss with workers, they will understand and accept those painful measures.
Those were important lessons. I have applied those lessons since my first election as Secretary-General of the NTUC in 1993. My biggest concern was the impact of globalization. Relocations would render many workers jobless. The pace of change would quicken. The faster it is, the more difficult it would be for us to find them new jobs. On top of this, there have been unexpected external events. There were a series of such events: the Asian financial crisis in 1998, the terrorist strike on September 11, 2001, the terrorist strike in Bali in October 2002, the downturn in the electronics industry, the Iraq War, SARS. Yes, the last 6 years have been difficult ones.
But unionists and workers are very understanding, very practical in their attitude and approach, very resilient. From experience they have learnt that business goes through cycles, and they need to move in tandem, adapt and change, upgrade skills, adjust wage expectations. So we have come through these tough times without any serious industrial relations problems. That’s why our workers deserve to be rated Number One!
The economy is turning for the better. Prospects for jobs and wage increases this year are brighter.
But our focus must remain on jobs – constantly creating new jobs for those displaced by relocation of business, and for those joining the job market. We must never lose this focus.
We have to tackle some problems. We have to keep Singapore competitive. It means restructuring our wages, but applying the principle of fairness, like in the case of PSA. Keep fix costs low, so that the company can price its services competitively. Then the company gets more business, makes more money, and workers get better bonuses.
We will have to keep on raising productivity, by working smarter and upgrading our skills.
The profile of union members will change, in tandem with change in the profile of our workforce.
In 1981 only 2% of the workforce worked part time; today it is 6% and growing. In 1981 35% were women; today it is 45%; one day it will be 50%. In 1981 only 4% had tertiary education; today fully 30% are tertiary-educated; sometime in the future 50% will be tertiary-educated..
The fundamental role of unions – of protecting and enhancing the welfare of workers – will remain constant. But what unions do for workers must change. The less skilled workers will receive our top priority, but we must also reach out to the part time workers, the contract workers, and the tertiary-educated.
While the profile of workers will change, and what unions do will change, I believe the lessons I learnt will remain useful. They are enduring principles that future leaders of the NTUC will find relevant.
Finally I hope you like our new home as much as we do! For this we have to thank Prime Minister Mr Goh Chok Tong, for promising us this new home at the May Day Dinner 1990. Today the promise is fulfilled. Prime Minister, we the NTUC, the unions and workers of Singapore, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! You are a true friend!
