Speech by UPAGE President, Mr Tay Seng Chye, at the 4th UPAGE Quadrennial Delegates Conference

Our Guest of Honour, Brother Lim Swee Say, Secretary-General NTUC

Brother John De Payva;

Brother Heng Chee How;

Brother Seng Han Tong;

Members of NTUC Central Committee;

Brother Sin Boon Ann,

Brother Quek Poh Huat;

Brother Lawrence Wong

CEOs, MDs, management partners;

UPAGE Delegates and Exco Members

Distinguished guests;

Brothers and Sisters

Good morning and welcome to UPAGE’s 4^th Delegates Conference.

I am pleased to share that UPAGE has done very well on several fronts over the last term.

On the finance front, UPAGE with the support of management partners set up the UPAGE Endowment Fund in 2008. This is for the long term financial stability of the union. A total of $3.5m was committed over 5 years. To-date, $2.2m has been received. 

Industrial relations remain peaceful and harmonious even with some minor changes in key leaders on both the union and companies side. 

The sale of the gencos did cause us to worry about the future owners. Looking back, Temasek could not have found better partners for UPAGE. 

With each sale, Management agreed to UPAGE’s request and members received generous ex-gratia payment. Needless to say, members were delighted by this gesture.

We continue to enjoy excellent ties with all UPAGE organised companies. 

During the downturn, companies agreed to “cut costs to save jobs” and sent workers for SPUR training. There were no major retrenchments or shorter work week arrangements.

Companies together with EMA and WDA unanimously supported UPAGE’s idea for a WSQ for the energy sector. Both companies and workers will benefit greatly from this initiative.

Union Membership is a key priority. Membership grew by 13.5% during the last 3 years. This is due to the hard work of exco and delegates in recruiting members.

Management also supported union recruitment in a number of ways from giving UPAGE access to company induction programme to CA signing payments which benefited members.

I must add in some cases some senior management including Snr VPs and MDs signed up as union GB members to signal support for the union.

UPAGE also organised 3 companies during the last term - Worley Parsons, KMC, and Singapore LNG Corporation.

Unionisation rate of OB members is 80% to 90% today for most companies.  Still, UPAGE must continue to recruit more members to stay relevant as a union.

Growth in membership will come from two areas. 

First, UPAGE will work with companies to expand its scope and represent PMEs in existing companies.  This is to support NTUC’s push for PME breakthru’ in membership.

Secondly, UPAGE will look beyond the power and gas sector to become a union for the energy sector. This is logical as the gencos are becoming fully integrated energy companies. Also clean energy is a growth sector in the economy.

Leadership development and renewal is proceeding smoothly. Here I thank leaders who stepped aside to make way for new leaders both at the branch and exco level. 

In the next term a younger team will build on what has been achieved to bring UPAGE to the next level.

The union has also been active in other areas such as helping needy union members.

With NTUC U-Care, we are giving out more bursaries each year. Needy members and their families also benefitted from U Care support such as Back to School Vouchers, Family Recreation Voucher, U-Care Voucher and Public Transport vouchers.

On the fun side, UPAGE organised bowling and futsal tournaments for members. UPAGE members and their families also enjoyed special discounted tickets for Snow City, the F1 race last year and the Singapore Flyer ride during the last term.

UPAGE has benefited tremendously thru the various training programmes, seminars, dialogues and learning journeys organised by NTUC OTCi.

UPAGE’s achievements is the sum total of the collective efforts of many people including members, delegates, Exco, Management Partners and the NTUC.

Whilst it will not be possible to acknowledge everyone, I would like to conclude by expressing appreciation to a few special people:

To the late former Executive Secretary of UPAGE and Founder Member of UPAGE, Brother Nithiah Nandan. UPAGE will always remember his invaluable contributions. We are honoured to have Mrs Nithiah and family with us today.

1. To our former President and Founder Member of UPAGE, Brother Abdul Rahman Mahbob, thank you for helping to shape UPAGE to what it is today.
2. To Founder Members of UPAGE, Brothers Mohd Salleh and Michael Tan,  thank you for your dedication, wise counsel and support for leadership renewal.
3. We express sincere thanks to exco members and delegates who relinquished their positions for various reasons to pave way for younger leaders.
4. It is also my privilege to put place on record the good work done by the outgoing Executive Council.
5. Our heartfelt gratitude to our Advisor, Brother Sin Boon Ann, whose guidance has helped strengthen the union leadership’s resolve to face the challenges ahead.
6. Our sincere appreciation to NTUC Secretary-General Brother Lim Swee Say for his unfailing support for UPAGE.
7. Last but not least, our sincere appreciation to management partners. 
8. We are especially grateful to all our CEOs, COO and MDs for setting the tone in our companies on union-management relations. Your personal involvement makes a big difference to UPAGE relations with companies. 

On this note, let me once again thank each and everyone for your presence today. Thank you.