ABOUT 30 jobs were at risk two weeks ago when two plastic manufacturers, facing reduced demand, wanted to retrench their workers.
Officials of the Chemical Industries Employees' Union (CIEU) got wind of it and suggested they opt for a shorter work-week as a cost-cutting measure instead.
Initially, they made no headway with the companies' human resource officers. But when the unionists went to the bosses, they were pleasantly surprised.
The union's suggestion was accepted.
CIEU president Rajendran Govindarajoo related this story to The Straits Times yesterday, to show how unions and management need to work and communicate even more closely in this recession.
He was reinforcing a point labour chief Lim Swee Say made in his speech during the National Trades Union Congress' annual Workplan Seminar.
Mr Lim, NTUC's secretary-general, urged companies and unions to be more pro-active in engaging one another and not to jeopardise the existing mutual trust which would take years to rebuild.
He recounted how he had to intervene in one negotiation because the company's management did not want a meeting with the unionists to discuss its performance and ways to tackle the slump.
Said Mr Lim, who did not name the company and union involved: 'The management told the union: 'Sorry, the situation is changing so fast that anything I tell you today will be outdated tomorrow, so no point talking'.'
Mr Lim spoke to its chairman, who said his management should have kept the union in the loop. But such behaviour is inevitable, the labour chief added, as some would 'get it wrong', because they fear what they tell the union now would be held against them later.
'But hopefully many companies and unions will get it right. We must talk to each other, uphold trust and make sure that tripartism here remains the most united tripartism model in the world.'
Agreeing, managing director Lee Wee Koon, 55, said his company, Hitachi Chemical Singapore, updates unionists weekly on its performance.
The firm makes printer circuit boards and employs 1,100 workers, who are members of the United Workers of Electronic and Electrical Industries union.
Mr Lee also meets union officials every month, encourages them to call him on urgent matters and tells them in advance of any measure to be introduced. He said: 'With such regular communication, even when business is changing rapidly, if the union officials are in tune with our situation, they will be very supportive.'
While most of the 1,000 unionised companies here have frequent dialogues with union leaders, the non-unionised sector remains an area of concern, Mr Lim told reporters later.
He urged their human resource department to step up communication so that their workers have a clear understanding of the companies' performance and management, of the workers' anxieties.
The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI), however, does not think there is a communication problem between bosses and workers of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the non-unionised sector.
Up to 80 per cent of its 4,000 members are SMEs, mostly non-unionised.
Said the SCCCI's secretary-general, Mr Lim Sah Soon: 'If there is no business, the employees can immediately feel it...it's also difficult for these SME bosses to hide information.'
He also said Chinese companies tend to treat their workers well, with some even looking after their staff's family.
'That's why a lot of their workers stick with them their whole life, unlike in big companies.'
- The Straits Times
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