Workers Union is just a getai office (for show only)

[Hishercar]

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews...114-100728.html

 

Minister slams DBS Bank

 

 

Fri, Nov 14, 2008

The Straits Times

 

 

 

By Sue-Ann Chia

 

LABOUR chief Lim Swee Say on Friday slammed DBS Bank for failing to consult its staff union on retrenching its workers or exploring other cost-cutting measures first.

 

'We are disappointed by the sudden decision,' he told The Straits Times when asked for his views on the DBS layoffs.

 

 

 

'There was no prior consultation with the DBS Staff Union. There was no exploration with the union on other cost reduction alternatives,' he said in an email reply on Friday.

 

 

 

This is a local bank and a "GIC" bank which should know better yet, there should be no excuse

 

 

This is very telling about the "power" of workers union in Singapore --- lap sab

 

 

so the cracks are begining to show

 

 

so where do we do for help?

[Picanto]

more or less agree with you. do you know that the union head is a ministar? if really want to be objective, then the head should not be related to any bigshots.

[Blackyv]

when u have a minister as union head, how real can it be?....uniquely singapore.

 

btw, since he is disappointed with dbs action, will union/he fight for those retrenched staff???.... if he/union is not going to do anything, then his disappointment means nothing at all.......just purely words with no purpose..... so, the message to the rest of company out there is they just simply ignore the union and go ahead with the axing because there's no side effect..... only complain is someone would feel disappointed only....

[Picanto]

all workers wish the day where there is a STRONG UNION, who will brave waters and fire for them. is that going to happen if 66.6% still support them?

[Watwheels]

I think that day came and gone in the days of JB Jayaratnam who lead the Worker's Party. That is also why they put a minister as union head today. All political, sian. There's no real representative to speak for the workers, btw no one dares to do so.

[Maxus-MIFA9]

Just wondering, why it takes so long for them to understand that our unions are 'cho hee' (for show) only........

 

Every month pay a fee to join union and they just stand a side and watch the action taken .......

[Mzrmazda3]

Over here, seems like we are on our own ...

Edited November 15, 2008 by Mzrmazda3

[Sfhuang]

Actually this is widely known even before this incident. Just that now it is on the front page of the papers where every Singaporean can see for themselves how "effective" and "useful" such unions can be.

 

When you apply for NTUC membership (to get the NTUC link points), you will be assigned membership in the "General Branch" if you're not a blue collar worker. Basically, this group does not have any status or bargaining power. There are no advantages to joining the General Branch other than those link points and other NTUC perks.

 

Back to the question, where do you go for help in such cases? If you're a blue collar, you can go seek your company's union (if there's one) or NTUC for help to fight your case. Otherwise, can only LLST. (Lan-Lan-Suck-Thumb)

[Ultramega]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I thought workers unions are for people who earn up to a certain amount only? And usually the amount quite low right?

 

Is DBS going to chop low or high income earners? If they are going to chop more high income earners, then how many percent of the 900 can the union protect?

Edited November 15, 2008 by Ultramega

[Sfhuang]

Just wondering, why it takes so long for them to understand that our unions are 'cho hee' (for show) only........ Sweat Drop Sweat Drop Sweat Drop

 

Every month pay a fee to join union and they just stand a side and watch the action taken ......

 

You are absolutely spot on. A lot of Singaporeans join NTUC without clear knowledge of what membership can really offer in terms of union advantages (other than those link points)!

[Sfhuang]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I thought workers unions are for people who earn up to a certain amount only? And usually the amount quite low right?

 

Is DBS going to chop low or high income earners? If they are going to chop more high income earners, then how many percent of the 900 can the union protect?

 

You're correct. DBS is going to chop mostly higher strata of the staff hierarchy (according to papers) ... I guess the unions are trying to fight the case for those lower strata that are affected.

[Comfy]

Just wondering, why it takes so long for them to understand that our unions are 'cho hee' (for show) only........

 

Every month pay a fee to join union and they just stand a side and watch the action taken .......

 

wayang for the 7th lunar month ma... got one union open supermarket some more.. sell insurance.. u say ley??

[Flight_skoda]

all workers wish the day where there is a STRONG UNION, who will brave waters and fire for them. is that going to happen if 66.6% still support them?

 

Do you think that day will ever come? Look as past examples in the like of S*A.

It is always better workers to keep themselves updated [information, skills & knowledge], well-networked, well position and well "capitalised" - these are best bets against errant employers and bosses. For me, unions are a waste of subscription money.

Edited November 15, 2008 by Flight_skoda

[Zanter]

You dunno the whole world is a stage and we are just actors playing a part?

[Mzrmazda3]

[Fitvip]

Certain bank mati-mati denied that they too were retrenching but they asked staff to take NO PAY LEAVE INDEFINITELY! What is the difference?

[Ah_dude]

I when i read his statement.....seem to me like use own "lan" to his own head

[BMW320i]

Like what most forumers said, this is just a show.

 

Singapore adopts a tripartite system which believes in achieving its nationalistic goals for the good of the country by unifying the unions, employers with the government acting as conflict resolver.

 

Even if the union was alerted of this redundancy exercise, chances are that the union will take a side line because this is necessary to achieve our nation's economic goals.

 

Simply put it, for the survival of Singapore's economy, we have to cut loose of our liabilities to ensure our company's survival otherwise there will not be any company to hire anybody in future. When I say liabilities I refer to employees.

 

The Singapore tripartite system is flawed because there are so much red tape involved. Effectively speaking, power is transfered to the employers leaving unions very little collective bargaining power. According to the government, this is necessary to provide a stable industrial relation system that is deemed attractive to foreign direct investment.

 

To simplify this even further as to why government has the final say, I refer to the SIA industrial relations dispute between SIA management and pilots over pay disputes during SARS period in 2002.

 

Long story short, SIA suffered its first ever loss in 2003. Wages were cut by as much as 40%. After SIA posted its first ever profits, wages were not restored. After that, basically sh*t hits the fan.

 

The Airline Pilot Associate of Singapore (ALPAS) was initially involved in negotiation with SIA management regarding pay disputes. ALPAS became soft and accepted those pay cuts. End result was ALPAS members firing all 22 executive members who were in charged of the negotiations.

 

If anyone actually follow the news religiously, LKY did mention that "there will be broken heads" if dispute was not resolved quickly. True enough there were broken heads. Government intervened, slam the pilots, all issues resolved.

 

Government than proceeded to amend their labour legislation making foreign pilots (ex-executive ALPAS members) illegible to serve as executive members of ALPAS.

 

So whose the boss ?

 

If you look at statistic, pardon me I don't have any figures as I am too lazy to search, but in my thesis I recalled the figures of union membership were increasing from 1984 till early 2000s. It sounds promising but please also note that Singapore's labour force has also increased more than its union membership by several folds. So bearing that in mind, union membership has effectively declined.

 

That could possibly be indicative of union's lack of bargaining power. You guys can speculate on that.