11-5-75

New NTUC Bid To Step Up Membership

The National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) has set up a permanent membership recruitment committee in a renewed effort to bring into its fold unorganised workers in Singapore. Mr. V. Jayakody, NTUC secretary said that the present membership is only about 33% of the organisable workers in Singapore. He added that most of the unorganised workers were union-conscious but they seemed to have misgivings about the effectiveness of trade unions.

Mr. Phey Yew Kok, who is the NTUC's president and general secretary of both Silo and Pieu, said NTUC-affiliated unions not only endeavoured to improve the economic and social conditions of workers but also undertook other functions designed for their welfare.

The newly-formed NTUC Industrial Affairs Council (which the recruitment committee will be attached to), claims to provide expert assistance to affiliated unions, and also to undertake the supervision of strikes and other industrial action at the request of affiliate unions.

(NB: Between 1960 and 1970, the organized labour movement was effectively purged of its left-wing leadership, and most left-wing unions were either de-registered or dissolved—their number dropping from 30 in 1966 to 13 in 1969. Now, only the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) maintains any semblance of liason between workers and the government. However, government subsidy accounts for 90% of the Congress' running expenses, and government employment policy gains a somewhat deceptive respectability through endorsement by NTUC leaders. To quote a NTUC Secretary General in his annual report: 'The trade union role is obviously one of marshalling complete support for the government ...')