Mothership Q&A: A glimpse of union leader Cham Hui Fong
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If Hui Fong were Manchester United’s manager, she wouldn’t have bought Fellaini.
By Jonathan Lim
Singaporeans are generally clueless about unions and the relationship between unions, employers and employees. Is that a good or bad thing? No one knows for sure.
Recently, the National Wage Council released its annual wage guidelines which called for wages to grow in line with productivity and for employers to give built-in wage increments to employees. One of the measures the guidelines called for was for employers to give low-wage workers who were earning up to $1,000 per month a wage increase of at least $60.
Little attention was paid to the news on NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say’s announcement that a task force will be set up to look into the wage guidelines after several members of the NWC had disagreements with them. This is about the most exciting union-related news to come out this year. Just a notch above looking at a snail crawl across the pavement.
So the Mothership.sg team figured that we needed to talk to someone on the inside to understand what do unions do to help employees. We fired random emails at NTUC and NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Ms Cham Hui Fong actually replied.
1. Labour chief Lim Swee Say said that some firms could not be persuaded to raise the $1,000 threshold for low-wage workers. A higher salary threshold (at $1,100 or $1,200) would have meant more workers qualifying for a minimum pay increase. Share with us some of the challenges you faced during the wage negotiations.
It was not easy in 2012 to get employers to agree with this move. There was even more tension back then as we needed them to see how wages have not moved for the lower rung. Even the $50 increase was a protracted negotiation.
Many people commented ‘only $50??’ without knowing how difficult it was (to negotiate for) as this represented at least a 5% raise for those earning less than $1,000. For many years, our basic wage increases was hovering around 3-4%.
In 2012, only 28% of companies in Singapore paid the amount to their workers earning less than $1,000 per month. Unionised companies did better with close to 80%. We were disappointed.
In 2013, we tried again and got a higher amount at $60. It got better as 57% of companies paid that in 2013. The tight labour market, low unemployment rate and tightening of foreign manpower were to our advantage.
This year, we noted that the 10th percentile is no longer at $1,000 as in 2012. Hence, we proposed to raise the floor to $1,200 as our starting position with a view to settle at $1,100 if need be.
Employers were concerned. This year $1,200 next year what figure? Will we keep going up and raise the expectations of our union members? They said there will always be a 10th percentile and we should focus on helping the people earning $1,000 and below to alleviate them from hardship.
So the question is “how do we define hardship?”
So NTUC said we need to have an agreed framework where 3 parties agree that the lower 10 or 20 percentile are drawing reasonable wages. Several suggestions were proposed, we also said if the Progressive Wage Model is widely in place, skills and productivity improvements will ensure wage adjustments to be sustainable. As we did not want to hold up the discussion, we agreed a separate work group to be formed to look into that.
We do not want to stop at those below $1,000. A compromise this year was to include a provision for those low wage workers but also those earning above $1,000 to have equitable adjustment. Based on feedback from unions last year, companies were sticking closely to the guidelines. Hence if they pay say 3.5%, those earning $1000 only get $35! We said this is too low and no equity.
2. The National Wages Council (NWC) recommended a pay hike of at least $60 for workers earning below $1,000 each month. It was $50 and $60 in 2012 and 2013. Will we see a pay hike of $70 soon?
Moving forward it is premature to say if we will go for $70 or $80 for those earning less than $1000. It is more about how wages move for the lower wage workers over the years. They are harder hit by the inflation, so real wage increases for them is critical.
3. Working in NTUC, how do you think Singapore’s unions fare against other developed nations such as the United States?
We are grateful for the good tripartism (partnership between the Government, unions, and employers) we enjoy. That has been a cornerstone to how we resolve challenges over the years. Mutual respect and understanding of each party are success factors of how we arrive at agreements most of the time. That is a key difference between us and other unions in the world. And I am proud to be part of this partnership.
4. In a recent Zaobao interview, Labour Chief Lim said that he would step down as the NTUC’s sec-gen when he turns 62 in 2016. How has NTUC coped with its plans for leadership renewal? We noticed the departures of key leaders over the past few years.
The leadership in NTUC cannot be dependent on one individual. Of course, the Secretary-General sets the direction and guidance. What is more important, in my view , is the spirit of tripartism, and the engagement with our union leaders where we stay connected to the ground. Union leaders must stay effective, articulate the concerns of the grounds, speak up for their members, that is the role of Labour Movement.
5. Singaporeans are generally unfamiliar with the work of the unions in Singapore. Is that a good or bad thing. Why?
It does not matter whether public knows what unions do. As long as our members appreciate what we are doing for them. I guess action speaks louder than words. What satisfies us is that we have done something that helped our members. That keeps us going.
6. We noticed you are a Manchester United fan, what do you think David Moyes could have done to save last season? What went wrong for him?
Wow, got Man U also!?
On Man U, I can only say that a good manager may not be a good leader. If he does not gel and appreciate his players, the players will have no heart or motivation to do their best.
7. If you were their manager, what would you do?
If I were Man U’s manager I will not buy Fellaini.
Should get a new midfielder and a striker. And don’t keep changing players. They must get used to playing under a new manager.