Good morning
• UPAGE President Brother Tay Seng Chye
• UPAGE General Secretary and NTUC Vice President Brother Abdul Samad
• UPAGE Executive Secretary Brother Thiagarajan
• SP Group CEO, Mr Wong Kim Yin
• Sisters and Brothers of UPAGE
• Management and staff of SP Group
I am happy to hear what Mr Wong Kim Yin (Group CEO of SP Group) has said, on the direction and plan for the future. I am also very happy as I see our union leaders stepping forward to work with the management and working in the immediate aspects of our sisters and brothers’ livelihoods on the ground.
Amongst all the things I’ve seen at Singapore Power, I’ve seen progress not just in today’s signing of the Company Training Committee (CTC), but progress in technology and deployment. You showed me the different technologies in one of the laboratories and I see that it’s being deployed. Maybe 15 months down the road, I’ll see innovation. I remember you also showed me the (electric) car charges, I am waiting to see it being proliferated across Singapore. I’m really happy to see our union leaders stepping up, in partnership with the management – whilst our management come from the strategic level, our union leaders are coming forward to help with the operational and even tactical deployment of our workers. This partnership, using our head, will bring us far.
I am equally delighted that Singapore Power has a heart for our workers. I had a discussion with your Human Resource (HR) Director – we discussed strategic, operational and even tactical HR. And I know that at the heart of all this progress, the values held by SP converge with ours, here in the Labour Movement. Of all the things we do as a company, we put the customer at the centre, but internally, workers are at the heart of the many things that the company does.
With the Head, coupled with the Heart, it gives us Hope.
The three Hs - Head, Heart, Hope. Why are these important?
The CTC that you are signing today is a progression from what the company has already put into Project FUSION – it is the next step of institutionalising the good work done by the company. It’s a marginal step forward. Even without the CTC, with the strong labour-management relations, I am confident that you will take care of our workers. But with the CTC, the marginal value add is that it involves the union leaders and workers upstream. And with the CTC, I hope to see more of our PMEs (professionals, managers and executives) also getting involved in the overall planning. Instead of just the management thinking what to do and telling you what needs to be done, you partner each other upstream and you meet regularly to discuss. This means that you will be better able to plan and better able to compete.
It is important to raise productivity as a company, and as a country. If you consolidate all these across different companies and industries in Singapore, what does it mean for all of us? The Labour Movement, Government and our employers come together in the spirit of tripartism, for a very important purpose – to ensure that Singapore’s economy remains competitive and we are able to seize opportunities moving forward. We must make sure that our economy remains competitive so that we can create a better future. From the micro things that we do, to the operational things that company does and at the country level and finally, this training initiative that we are doing in the Labour Movement. Hence I was so happy to watch the video (played earlier) – whether it is Esther, Cham or Farhan – your stories are powerful. Your stories bring heart to the head (planning) and it gives hope to the future generation of Singaporeans – that we have the right strategy; from industry transformation that we have put forward as a country towards a smart nation, to the Labour Movement partnering companies to come up with relevant training. More importantly, it gives hope to our workers, to fellow Singaporeans. Why is this important?
If we do a survey of the world today, with the downsides of globalisation, gross inequalities in the world have increased. You go to continental USA, the pressures of the divide between the rich and poor, the stagnant middle class, have led to societal tension. You go to Great Britain, they are in the midst of an election to resolve issues where different groups of people feel that there is social injustice. You go to France, the yellow jackets who have just demonstrated on their one year anniversary, it is again because of social divide. Perhaps closer to us, in Asia – Hong Kong – the territory is in the grip of a very sad decline in social order.
What we do in the Labour Movement, in the spirit of tripartism, is to uphold the economic possibilities for Singapore and Singaporeans. All of us in the Labour Movement recognise this.
But there is an added dimension of the Social Compact that the Labour Movement plays - where we do the 2Hs (with the head and heart), where we move workers together with Singapore’s success. I propose to you to remember this important role that we play in the Labour Movement - that we upkeep the Social Compact. So that when the Singapore economy succeeds and companies turn better profit, our workers will always have a fair share in that success. The economic success and distribution of wealth across the country will never be completely equal because communism has failed. But will we make sure that all Singaporeans will be taken cared for? The Social Compact includes taking care of our seniors – the Pioneer Generation and Merdeka Generation. As the former Minister of Education, I have a big heart for our children – childcare, childcare subsidies and education have always been, and will remain my focus. And importantly, many of you, including the younger ones who want to start your families, we recognise the challenges you face. With the different subsidies including housing, we want to ensure that you have a stake in Singapore, that you can have a good life in Singapore. As the Labour Movement, we play an important part – to provide feedback from the ground, and anchor our workers with better wages, welfare and work prospects so that all of us can lead better lives.
I saw the bursaries that you (union) gave to the children earlier this year. You have the Head to plan ahead. Keep the Heart in the company as well for our workers – not only taking care of them but their families as well. With the Head and the Heart, and all the things we do, let us continue to generate Hope for the future of Singapore, for the success of Singapore and in sharing the wealth of Singapore to ensure that we have a harmonious society regardless of race, language, religion and class.
The pressures on societies are real, as we see across the world. Let us, whether we are management, Government or the Labour Movement, continue to work together to uphold tripartism, for our economic success and for our social compact.
Let us do it with the 3Hs - plan ahead with the Head, always care with the Heart so that we will always have Hope for the future.
###
