Rilek1Corner

Tag: Unions

  • Surbana Sackings An Example Of Weak Unions In One-Party Rule

    Surbana Sackings An Example Of Weak Unions In One-Party Rule

    I read with sadness about the Surbana’s sacking of 54 workers. As an HR practitioner for 10 years, I’ve gone through many firing exercises.

    Businesses will always place its profitability above everything else. That’s nature.

    But what is not acceptable is that when it terminate employees under the guise of poor performance.

    From news reports, we know that the terminated workers weren’t given the due process for the termination.

    I believe this happens because our labour laws are inadequate such that a company as big as Surbana has the temerity to act in such a manner.

    From this episode, I hope Singaporeans start to realise that a strong union with bite is necessary.

    We need to start looking at matters that govern our lives and not allow politicians to dictate what is best for us.

    To a certain extent, a weak Union is the result of a one party rule which is bad for any nation as opposed to what Mr Ong Ye Kung recently espouses.

     

    Source: Khan Osman Sulaiman

  • Dear PM Can You Pass Me Your Minister?

    Dear PM Can You Pass Me Your Minister?

    I wonder which country in the world has a labour movement which writes to the head of Government to ask that he release an office-holder so that the man can vie for office in the…labour movement. But I guess it’s better than the parachuting of an unknown into a big office on someone’s say-so.

    It says much about the symbiotic relationship between the G (or is it the People’s Action Party?) and the NTUC, that no one has said anything about the above “poaching’’ process. One guess is that the concept is so in-grained or well accepted  that nobody talks about it anymore. The vision of the union and the G is aligned, and leaders move in and out. They even maintain offices on both sides of a (non-existent) fence!

    So Mr Chan Chun Sing is the man of the moment. The PM has said okay and Mr Chan has to win the votes of delegates in October to get the top job of secretary-general. We all know that the head of the NTUC has to be politically acceptable. As well as the ability to win the hearts and minds of workers. So both have to go together.

    There is a precedent in the form of Mr Lim Chee Onn, once the flavor of the month and among the front-runners for the premiership. Although he got the top job with the blessings of the political leadership, he was removed as the secretary-general because his leadership style rankled on the rank-and-file. I’m basing this on memory because I’m having a hard time researching the background. I’m not sure if he was removed at a conference or simply told to step aside in favour of someone more palatable, in this case, the late president Ong Teng Cheong.

    I am among those who were surprised at the choice of the NTUC central committee. MSM reports that even unionists were surprised. In fact, I am more surprised that there has been no successor groomed for Mr Lim Swee Say’s job after all these years. Nobody knew that Mr Lim was going to turn 62 soon and has to retire? Its current crop of deputy/assistant sec-gens not good enough?

    As for the choice of Mr Chan, the surprise is that a career civil servant whose only experience has been in one “unique” sector, the military, should have been the choice of the key union leaders. Perhaps, it is because he heads the Ministry of Social and Family Development, which deals with bread-and-butter issues of the less privileged that makes top union leaders think he is a good choice? It cannot only be because he drinks coffee with taxi-drivers; he’s an advisor to the taxi drivers’ unions. Or because he can adopt as folksy a manner as Mr Lim?

    All I can say is that we seem to have an amazing paucity of talent, so much so that established institutions here have to raid each other, like companies poaching in the private sector. Or is there a bigger, long-term objective in sight, such as Mr Chan is being tested for an even bigger job. Much as Mr Lim Chee Onn was. Getting the endorsement of the labour movement, which has nearly one million members, is a big deal. Given that Mr Chan is a first-term MP, you might call this “hot housing’’.

    Okay, I am rambling. Sorry.

    Anyway, I have always liked Mr Lim Swee Say, since the days he was an officer in the Economic Development Board. Power and position hasn’t changed him one bit. I liked him even more in the past few years for what he was doing for the labour movement. For too long, I’ve always thought the NTUC was placing too much focus on the “social’’ aspects of its mission, such as setting up its “finest’’ supermarkets and pre-skools which it can’t spel, instead of the “organising’’ aspects of a trade union. It should be looking at wages, recruitment and workplace practices. I blame the union for not detecting the long stagnation of wages at the lowest levels.

    But I can see more “organizing’’ work done in recent time. It has managed to pry open the two integrated resorts and unionized their workers. It has tried to rectify the low wages of some sectors by combining a wage floor with a productivity ladder. It has pushed for $50 salary raises within the National Wages Council. And it has finally managed to get PMEs under the labour movement’s umbrella. I still think it needs to do a better job of selling the “re-hiring’’ of older workers to the people. That is not about working till you drop dead, but about being able to work beyond a certain age if you want to.

    It has also always been a source of wonder to me that the NTUC does not have its own labour experts in a strategic policy unit who can crunch the numbers on wages and employment. The labour movement should be leading the charge, rather than depend on the statistics and pronouncements of the Manpower ministry.

    If Mr Chan does get the vote in October, I hope that he will carry on the organizing aspects of the movement. After all, he has headed a big organization like the military and is now the PAP organizing secretary. Perhaps, under his charge, the NTUC will be the first thing that comes to the minds of workers who feel they have been short-changed in some way. And that it is not just a place to buy groceries.

    It remains for me to wish Mr Lim and Mr Chan all the best!

     

    Source: https://berthahenson.wordpress.com

  • Singapore Employees “Under Happy”

    Singapore Employees “Under Happy”

    SINGAPORE: Employees in the Republic “can be happier”, according to the results of the National Workplace Happiness Survey 2014 revealed on Tuesday (Nov 11).

    The nation’s overall workplace happiness index is 59, which falls into the band “Under Happy”, between “Unhappy” and “Happy”.

    The survey was jointly conceived and organised in April by the Singapore Human Resources Institute – a not-for-profit organisation representing over 3,000 human resource professionals – and Align Group, a people consulting research firm. It was done to obtain a national benchmark on workplace happiness with a scientific measurement.

    The survey polled around 5,600 people in online questionnaires and 94 per cent of the respondents are Singaporeans or Permanent Residents. They were asked about various aspects such as job satisfaction and well-being. Their responses were then mapped to an index with three bands: “Unhappy” (0-50), “Under Happy” (51-67) and “Happy” (68-100).

    The results show that more can be done to make workplaces in Singapore happier, said Erman Tan, president of the Singapore Human Resources Institute. “From the HR perspective, there is more that the employer can do to let our employees feel a sense of empowerment.”

    SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES VS MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS

    Industries with the highest happiness rankings are charity and social services and education, while those with the lowest rankings include logistics and supply chain, and banking and financial services.

    Employees of voluntary welfare organisations and local small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) are also happier at work, compared to those in multinational corporations.

    Said Align Group’s managing director, Low Boon Seong: “The reason could be that SMEs give employees more participation and more autonomy, and probably the staff are able to see how they shape the company’s growth, so I think this spells opportunities for SMEs in terms of their talent attraction and retention strategies.”

    SALARIES HAVE LOW IMPACT ON HAPPINESS

    The top happiness drivers include brand identity, culture and positive emotions. Of 28 factors, salary and benefits rank as having the least impact.

    Mr Low commented: “I think we can understand that for salary level, once you achieve a certain baseline, any increment would be marginal in terms of affecting how happy a person feels, and people will start to look at the higher factors.”

    WOMEN SEEM HAPPIER THAN MEN

    Women also seem to be happier at work than men, with a slightly higher index. One factor with a significant impact for women is whether they are treated fairly at work. For men, it is the hope of a better future at work.

    GENERATION X ANGST

    Among the different age groups, Gen X – those born between 1964 and 1980 – are the least happy at work, with an overall index of 58. For Baby Boomers – those born before 1964 – the index is 64.4. Meanwhile, the score for Gen Y – those born after 1980 – is 58.5.

    Mr Low described Generation X as “the sandwiched class”. He said: “This is consistent with other studies out there, probably because of the burden they have to carry in terms of managing older parents and younger kids.”

    ENGAGING EMPLOYEES

    Survey organisers feel the findings can help employers enhance HR policies. Mr Tan said: “People want to have some form of control over their career, over their work-life arrangement. They also want to be given a better direction, what sort of areas they can grow with the organisation.

    “I think the HR practitioners and employers need to sit down and understand the individual staff needs better. With that change of thinking, they will be able to enhance their current HR policy to make sure that there is a better engagement of the employee, and boost morale and productivity.”

    But organisers also acknowledge that there are limitations. As the English-language survey is done through electronic channels, the responses gathered are from those who have access to computers or smartphones.

    The profile mix is considered to be representative of the white-collar working population in Singapore. Organisers said that it would be interesting to compare the result of the survey with one that focuses on blue-collar workers.

    They added that some of the interesting dimensions can be analysed with more depth, possibly through a more precise study.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com