President S R Nathan
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew
Ministers and Members of Parliament
Brothers and sisters of the labour movement
Mr Janadas Devan and family
Ladies and gentlemen
1 I got to know Mr Devan Nair when I joined the trade union movement in the 1950s.
2 In those days, trade unionism in Singapore was very different. Working life for the common worker was hard. Anti-colonial sentiments were growing strong. Trade unionism started against this backdrop. Strikes were a common occurrence.
3 Back then, I was a telegraph operator with Cable and Wireless. But the employers were strict and pressed the workers hard. Many of the older colleagues looked really old by the time they reached 50. Some never passed 50. Life to them was a constant struggle. We did not have a union then.
4 Even if you were really sick and went to see your supervisor, he would say: “Okay, you young guys strain yourself during the day and then when it comes to work in the evening, you become unwell. Take a walk around town and come back to work”.
5 It was that time in the 1950s that we decided to form a union in my company. My journey with the trade union movement and association with Devan Nair began then.
6 There was one incident when there were student riots in the streets. There was a Filipino press man who worked in the same building, he was in Boon Tat Street and was making his way back when he was stabbed by the mob. By the time he reached the building, he collapsed and died.
7 Another incident happened along Alexandra Road. There was also a huge crowd parading a school boy that was shot during the riots. If they had rushed him to hospital, he could have been saved. Instead he was paraded around to stir up sentiments. This was the sort of difficult climate that we were operating in.
8 We had to fight unfair employment practices. We joined the STUC in the 1950s. If you walked down Robinson Road then, you would see people on strike every four or five blocks. Being part of the STUC, we would be told that this company is on strike and their union belonged to the STUC. So Devan Nair told us to go down and give them moral support when we have the time.
9 At Cable and Wireless, we also went on strike once against the management. It was tough going. We had to convince the older workers then who were trained by the colonial masters to respect them, to go against their bosses and personal friends. But we got them to do it. The strike lasted about 6 hours and management gave in.
10 There were also internal struggles within the union movement. We were fighting for control of the labour movement with the communists. The NTUC was formed for this purpose.
11 I remember one afternoon in 1961 I was called in to Devan Nair’s office. There were thirteen of us then. He said we have to form this new union, and we were the founder members. And so the Pioneer Industries Employees’ Union was formed. The SMMWU transferred some of its branches to kick-start the union. The first two companies that we got the workers to join were Jurong Shipyard and National Iron and Steel Mill. They were located in Jurong and the land were cleared for new industries. There were no proper roads then, only mud tracks, and by the time we got back, the car was covered in mud.
12 Back then we had the Labour Research Unit or LRU which handled the Industrial Relations Officers or IROs. The LRU was created through the vision of Devan Nair. He realized that for the labour movement to move to the next level, we would need more financial and human resource muscle. When workers came in with problems, they would be interview by the Director or Deputy Director and assign them to an IRO most suitable to handle the problem. Most trade unionists really started their union work after 5pm. We would finish our day job, and go in to do our union work every day until late into the night.
13 When NTUC held our first Delegates’ Conference in Victoria Memorial Hall, we even had to borrow tables and chairs from the City Council Store for that.
14 We also went through difficult times when the Employment Act and Industrial Relations Act were established. There was a lot of disappointment amongst unionists then, as some felt that it was a sell-out of workers’ rights. But we managed to convince workers that it was the right way forward.
15 Life as a trade unionist in those early days was trying, but also fulfilling. Things are very different now. Professional event organizers organized many union activities. Back then, we did not even have staff helping us and we ourselves did everything manually.
16 We did all that for the same objective of wanting to do something for the workers. We never cared for any reward. Devan Nair was the true embodiment of this spirit. One thing in common with today’s NTUC is the focus on bread and butter issues like wages. Only the climate and approach was very different then.
17 It takes a special person to lead in those trying times. And Devan Nair was the man who was able to do it. He was a great speaker, as it was the case with many of the trade unionists then. We had people who could really rouse a crowd. Unionists like Mahmud Awang, Hashim Idris, Suppiah. Delegates’ Conferences then were really rousing and fiery. And Devan Nair was one of the best orators amongst them. He could really humor and stir workers into action. And later on, he had the foresight and vision to see the need to reform the NTUC. He also had the influence and charisma to convince the labour movement of the need to re-invent itself, and planted the seeds of the modern labour movement and NTUC as we know it today.
18 With his passing, we truly mourn a truly great trade union leader, and a founding father of trade unionism in Singapore. It marks the passing of an age.
