Amalgamated Union Of Public Employees

The total variable payment for 2008, including the mid-year payment, will be 2 months plus $100-300.

In the spirit of caring and sharing, AUPE disbursed study grants amounting to $90,500 to children of 678 Union and Co-operative members this year.

First time recipient, Ms Nur Sabrina came with her mother Ms Zalliha Bte Talib who works in the Housing Development Board. Though Ms Zalliha had been a Co-op member since 1994, she only applied for the grant this year after being told of the benefit by a colleague. She was happy to be successful in her application.

Successful applicants not present at the Ceremony would have the grants credited into their bank accounts via GIRO on 2 September 2008.

The AUPE Group, comprising the AUPE Multi-purpose Co-operative, AUPE Foundation and the AUPE Sports and Recreation Club had jointly sponsored $100,000 for the study grants. The grants range from $50 for a child in Primary School to $300 for University students.

The study grants have been a yearly tradition since 1980 to help deserving union members defray education costs for their children.

Members with low family income look forward to the study grants and are likely to benefit every year so long as their children are in school.

By Thomas Lee, Committee Member of Singapore Sports Council Staff Branch

Thanks to AUPE and NTUC, I was able to embark on this exciting learning journey to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from 17 to 20 July 2008. The trip was a form of reward and recognition for unionists who have been instrumental in their work within the respective affiliate union of NTUC.

The four-day trip in the buzzling city was a culmination of a series of build-up programmes that included a pre-trip event at Scarlet City in Ang Mo Kio Hub. Prior to this, all the 72 nominated unionists had taken a video shot of themselves, which were cut into a disc promoting the new NTUC logo and its new tagline.

The entourage, led by Mr Zainudin Nordin (Mayor of Central CDC & MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) and Mr Teo Yock Ngee (General Secretary of AUPE & Secretary for Financial Affairs, NTUC) left Changi Airport Terminal 2 in the wee hours of 17 July 08 on an SIA flight. Upon arrival at the airport in Ho Chi Minh, we were bundled into two coaches and made our way to the first destination - the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP). On hand to receive us was Singapore Representative of the Park, Mr Anthony Lim, who gave the entourage a briefing on the Park’s objectives and business makeup (mostly light industry). We were also given a first hand assessment on the Vietnam economy and the sky rocketing inflation, which hit 25% at the time of our visit! In a nutshell, the country despite the inflation is still progressing well economically due to its stable political system as well as the resilience of its people and the foreign investments that poured in to create jobs. The Park is also committed to protecting the earth, hence its operational methods are environmentally friendly. Total investments in the Park amounted to SGD$2.14 billion and there are plans to expand the Park beyond its current boundaries. Some of the well-known companies operating in the Park are Toyota, Maple Tree and F&N.

The second part of the Park visit was a hands on experience. We were given a factory tour at the Sunlight Industry, which has its core business in power distribution, architectural/designer lightings and EIB control systems. The factory conditions are very similar to those that we see in some of our industrial parks back home in Singapore. Technology is employed as a force multiplier to increase output and enhance quality.

After leaving the Park, the group checked into Windsor Plaza Hotel - a five star hotel located at the centre of Ho Chi Minh, counting the famous An Dong shopping centre as its adjacent. Naturally nobody wasted any time to shop at An Dong upon arrival! Evening’s dinner was a sumptuous buffet spread consumed in the company of some notable guests – representatives from the Singapore Consulate and staff of International Enterprise Singapore. The evening’s level of excitement reached stratospheric level when some of our unionists sang, danced and played musical instruments on stage without charging a fee! Many hidden talents were uncovered in the process. Take note NTUC!

Re-employment of older workers and work-life balance in the public sector are two areas which the government and unions can work together to achieve better results, said Madam Halimah Yacob, Deputy Secretary-General of NTUC.

She was speaking as Guest-of-Honour to some 500 guests comprising management representatives, NTUC affiliates and AUPE members during the AUPE National Day Dinner and Dance held on 23 August 2008 at Pan Pacific Hotel.

Employers should start to re-employ older workers and not wait for the legislation on re-employment of older workers to come into effect in 2012. She lauded the public sector for improving their re-employment figures from 53% in 2006 to 57% in 2007, but hoped that it could aspire to achieve at least 75% by 2012. This requires a lot of planning and effort and Public Service Division (PSD) and its partners such as NTUC, AUPE and other public sector unions are working closely on this. She was happy to note that pilot schemes on job redesign had already started in the Ministry of Manpower, Singapore Police Force and Ministry of Education.

To achieve higher re-employment rates, a clear policy on re-employment must be in place as part of the strategic manpower planning of the organisation. Employees reaching 62 should be informed one year in advance on whether they would be offered re-employment. Conditions such as health and performance must be made known to employees earlier so that they would not be taken by surprise at the last minute.

Another important area to work on is to enhance the employability of older workers. The unions are working with PSD to redesign the jobs of some schemes of service, which has a fair share of older workers. If a staff cannot be redeployed for one reason or another, there should be a mechanism to outplace them or help them find employment elsewhere. More could be done to improve the re-employment rate and enhance the employability of older workers.

Madam Halimah cited the recent Marriage and Procreation Package announced by PM Lee that had generated a lot of interest amongst Singaporeans. Though the Government is giving out very good financial incentives, such as the baby bonus, this alone would not be enough unless more measures are introduced to complement these financial incentives, she said.

One form is through family friendly benefits such as the extension of maternity benefit by another four weeks, enhanced childcare and infant care leave. As the civil service employs a lot of women, it would be meaningful if it could promote more flexible work options such as part time work, compressed workweek or telecommuting to help women balance work and family. She hailed the public sector which has Work Life advocates who are either the Deputy Secretary or Deputy Chief Executive Officer. It also has work life ambassadors who are officers appointed to promote and facilitate day-to-day work life programmes for staff. They could do more in this area by reviewing existing schemes that are not popular and under-utilised and implement effective schemes to help women with young families. Bringing up children is a life long commitment, so what happens after maternity leave? She hoped that the public sector would take the lead in raising the employment rate of women with more part-time and flexible work practices. Again the unions would be more than happy to work with the PSD or other public sector managements to further promote these schemes.

In conclusion, Madam Halimah congratulated Permanent Secretary Ms Lim Soo Hoon of PSD who was conferred the May Day Award for her proactive stance towards promoting strong Labour Management Relations in the public sector. As a result there is a lot more consultation and discussion involving unions and the public sector management. Several joint workshops on topics of mutual interest and concern such as the re-employment of older workers and effective performance management were also held. These engagements have been useful in getting the management and unions to examine issues, identify problems and work out solutions.

Besides good food and company, our guests had a rollicking good time soaking up the entertainment that was lined up to celebrate the nation’s 43rd birthday.

Some 72 officers were commended for their achievement in completing their higher skills training but more than 250 celebrated with them when they received their Letters of Recognition at the Civil Service College Auditorium on 6 October 2008. These included their supervisors and family members, whose encouragement and support have helped to make their learning journey a whole lot easier.

The Civil Service has been working closely with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), Amalgamated Union of Public Employees (AUPE) and Singapore Government Shorthand Writers’ Association (SGSWA) on the Job Re-design initiative for some 500 officers in three pilot ministries, namely the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the Ministry of Education (MOE), and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Other Ministries have since embarked on the same journey, which would involve 4,000 CSOs and 2,000 OSOs across all ministries

In his congratulatory speech, Mr Teo cited the success stories at the three pilot ministries:

Jobs of some support officers were re-designed and pooled into a centralised services centre. Previously these officers were generalists, where they only did part of the work in each portion of the workflow. On top of that, many people were doing similar work in different departments. With the centralised services centre, these same officers have become specialists in their own work area. The CSO who is the Registry and Mail Management Specialist can now, in addition to doing this job function, develop and train new staff in the Registry. The Procurement Specialist can give advice on Instruction Manual Guidelines and procurement procedures. These specialists will get opportunities to supervise and lead small teams as they become more proficient in their work, and help to streamline and improve work processes.

Technology has played an important role in re-designed jobs at the schools in MOE. Some of the OSOs have learnt how to use new and more effective cleaning equipment. As a result, they now have time and opportunity to do higher-value work such as data entry using Microsoft Excel on the computer or take on new roles such as security and fire safety duties. The CSOs in schools now get to oversee and coordinate school events as part of their expanded job scope. Some have even reviewed and improved the school’s financial procedures.

CSOs in the Singapore Police Force have changed the way they work together. Senior CSOs now focus on supervisory functions and are responsible for the more complex tasks such as planning training programmes and analysing data while junior CSOs now handle some of the tasks that their seniors used to do. The seniors also guide their juniors on how to handle more difficult functions.

Mr Teo assured officers that they would not embark on the Job Re-design journey alone. Their supervisors and HR officers would discuss with them their new roles and expectations of them. Training programmes would be designed to prepare them for re-designed jobs. The Minister is confident that given the support and encouragement of their management, the rest of the officers will ease into their new roles just as smoothly as the pilot batch of officers have.

With effect from 1 September 2008, all entities of the AUPE Group had been operating under one roof at 295 Upper Paya Lebar Road.

Our offices have been given a makeover to create a comfortable yet efficient workplace for our staff in order to serve you better.

The locations of our departments are listed below for your easy reference :

Industrial Relations Department

AUPE Group Administration

AUPE Group Corporate Services & Projects Management

AUPE Foundation Co-operative

AUPE Conference Room

AUPE Seminar Rooms A, B & C

AUPE Union Officials Lounge

PSI Asia-Pacific Regional Organisation

The former Executive Council Meeting room at Level 4 has been revamped to accommodate three Seminar Rooms A, B & C. Branch Officials who wish to book the Seminar Rooms can contact Mr Mohammad Herman at Tel: 63800 860 or email him at herman@aupe.org.sg.

The NTUC held a Membership Campaign from May to August 2008 to reach out to all working people who have yet to become union members with the campaign tagline "You Can Get More Out of U". The campaign created a higher level of awareness among all working people in Singapore on the benefits and privileges as a union member. The “You Can Get More Out of U” campaign saw an increase of 2,000 members over the four-month period. To welcome new members and to show appreciation to existing members for their loyal support over the years, the NTUC conducted a lucky draw for all the 523,475 members. A grand lucky draw to determine the sequence of the top 5 prizes took place on 21 October 2008 at NTUC Club Lounge DXO atColours By The Bay, Esplanade Mall.

AUPE and AUPE Multi-Purpose Co-operative Society (MPC) carried out a joint Membership Recruitment Campaign to tie in with the NTUC Membership Campaign from May to August 2008. Recruitment incentive was doubled and as at end of the campaign period on 31 August 2008, the results were as follows:

* Members who signed up at the end of August 08 were also eligible for the NTUC Membership Recruitment Campaign Draw since they had applied to join in August 2008. This is notwithstanding that their union membership was effected in September 2008.

AUPE would like to convey its appreciation to all the recruiters for their membership efforts and the members for their support towards the union.

“U are the Star” was specially organised to celebrate and honour the contributions of unions, social enterprises and business partners towards NTUC membership achievement.

Held on 21 October 2008 at DXO, over 350 union leaders and branch officials, key stakeholders of NTUC social enterprises, strategic and industry partners, NTUC senior management and staff joined the Guest-of-Honour, NTUC’s Secretary-General Lim Swee Say and President John De Payva at a night of celebrations and jubilation. Mr Lim Swee Say praised the unions and the NTUC Membership Department for their efforts in helping to increase and retain union membership.

AUPE was one of the unions which NTUC recognised its efforts in membership. It won the $1,500 Merit Award and a plaque and was received by Ms Jennifer Ho, Manager Membership, on behalf of the union.

AUPE will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary on 26 September 2009. Besides the Anniversary Dinner, we would be having a calendar of events throughout the year that coincide with the anniversary dates of the Co-operatives and Sports & Recreation Club.

The details of the anniversary dates for the Co-operatives and Sports & Recreation Club are as follows:

In conjunction with the Co-operatives Anniversaries’ Celebrations, we will also be organising a forum in January 2009:

The Young AUPE activists will work with the Sports & Recreation Club on a series of events for the union branches.

AUPE would greatly appreciate your support towards the anniversary celebrations.

In the September issue of The Public Employee, we published an article on “MOE Staff Branch’s Educational Tour” on Page 8 of the newsletter.

We wish to clarify that the balm and health products factory visited was Fei Fah Medical Manufacturing “Electric Medibalm” factory and not Tiger ointment factory as printed.