NTUC thisweek - News Break

News Break

UnionWorks
	SITU: Translating Our Past Into A Better Future We might be a small union in size, but we are big in spirit and effort,” said Singapore Interpreters’ and Translators’ Union General Secretary P Kunjunni Nair. Addressing any grievances of its members and playing a proactive role in coming up with feasible solutions have been SITU’s focus all along.
	SISEU: One For All, All For One The Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union puts a high premium on their members and workers as, after all, the heart of union work is always for the good of workers. And it is not so much the number of members a union has, but how much a union can do for its members. More members mean more work that is often thankless and endless, but somebody has got to do the job.
	UPAGE: Powered For Progress Ensuring smooth renewal in the leadership ranks, growing the union's membership, pursuing LM2011 goals, ensuring long-term financial sustainability, and dealing with new challenges such as the sale of power generation companies have been foremost on the minds of the Union Of Power And Gas Employees leaders over the last year.
	BATU: BATU Builds A Strong Foundation Through Hard Work The past two to three years have seen a growth in both the construction and cleaning sectors, quite a contrast to 10 years ago when the construction sector was in doldrums. But there are still many challenges to overcome.

97th International Labour Conference Annual Meeting
	Shaping Policies For A Fairer Globalisation The fact that National Trades Union Congress Deputy Secretary-General Halimah Yacob has been re-elected for her fourth term, from 2008 to 2011, as Deputy Member of the Workers’ Group of the International Labour Organisation’s Governing Body says a lot about her contributions not just to the Singapore Labour Movement but also to workers all over the world.
	Tripartite Delegation Attends Labour Meet In Geneva More than 3,000 Government, worker and employment leaders from 181 countriesattended the annual meeting of the International Labour Organisation heldfrom 28 May to 13 June 2008 in Geneva, Switzerland. The roles of theInternational Labour Conference are to adopt and oversee compliance withinternational labour standards, establish the budget of the ILO and electmembers of the ILO Governing Body.

Helping Workers To Improve Mobility
	For eight years, Madam Koh Yuet Mei, 36, worked as an Administrative Assistant at a container yard company. She earned $1,400 a month and only had an “O Level” certificate. Today, she works as a Logistics and Customer Service Officer in Oriental Global Shipping Private Limited earning $700 more than what she used to earn three years ago.

Young NTUC
	Youth Leader Kelly Koh Xueyan Living Life to The Fullest If you trek Bukit Timah Hill on a Sunday morning, you just might meet Kelly Koh there. "I absolutely love the outdoors. I’m willing to try anything and everything at least once," she said.

SISEU Pre-QDC

A Union’s Work Is Never Done
In times when the only constant is change, the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union’s mantra is to be the still point of the turning world, to be always focused on serving members and workers above everything else.

With that guiding mindset, SISEU have got their work all cut out for them for the term of ofﬁce 2008 to 2012 after the Pre Quadrennial Delegates’ Conference on 19 June 2008 and the QDC itself on 9 July 2008. Their plan is to outdo themselves in the execution of the National Trades Union Congress’ 4D framework by being Better in Doing Well, Better in Doing Good, Better in Doing Together and Better in Doing More.

Membership
	NTUC Plus Card More Plus For NTUC Members Being a National Trades Union Congress member sure proved to be a plus with the launch of the NTUC Plus Card on 6 January 2008. Now, the already all-in-one bumper card brings more value-add to its members as it gradually opens more doors to perks of enhanced living.

Re-Employment Of Older Workers

Singapore Polo Club
Horse-Walking Gets A Leg-Up
To further enhance the working conditions of their mature workers, Singapore Polo Club has embarked on a project to install a mechanised automatic horse-walker at an estimated cost of $90,000. This equipment will ease the burden of mature syces who walk the horses daily for their exercise. The project was initiated by the Singapore Polo Club to improve the welfare and productivity of mature workers.

NTUC Income AGM
	NTUC Income Is In It For The Long Haul “Protect and enhance the integrity and reputation of both the National Trades Union Congress and NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative Ltd at all cost.”
	LM Will Not Allow NTUC Income To Go Down The Wrong Road The 38th NTUC Income Annual General Meeting held on 30 May 2008 at NTUC Centre had the strong support of NTUC Central Committee members, unionists and Directors including NTUC President John De Payva.

NWC’s One-Time Lump Sum Payment
	On Track And Picking Up Steam Sixty and still counting. That is the take up rate of unionised companies giving a one-off special lump sum payment to help workers cope with the rising cost of living. This comes just one month after the National Wages Council guidelines for 2008/09 were announced on 16 May 2008 and more companies are following suit.
	First DCS Are Happy To Give Even though the company may be in a `chilling’ business, the staff here can bask in a warm glow. First DCS Pte Ltd, under the umbrella of the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union and wholly-owned by Singapore’s largest industrial landlord, JTC Corporation, is also one of the first to adopt the National Wages Council’s recommendations for 2008/2009, including the one-off lump sum payment or so-called inflation bonus.
	NTUC Fairprice Staff Get $1.5 Million In Vouchers In support of the National Wage Council’s recommendations for 2008/2009, NTUC FairPrice is helping its employees cope with the rising cost of living this year by giving out $1.5 million worth of FairPrice food vouchers. About 6,000 FairPrice employees can look forward to receiving the equivalent vouchers in amounts ranging from $170 to $350. In line with the NWC's guidelines, the higher quantum will be given to lower wage employees.