TL;DR – As NTUC Secretary General, Ng Chee Meng has a big role to play in the CEC.
Have you heard? Following the PAP Party Convention held on 7 November, the members of PAP’s 37th Central Executive Committee (CEC) have been unveiled and on 26 November, four additional members, Alex Yeo, Cheryl Chan, Ng Chee Meng and Tan See Leng, have been co-opted:
The CEC also elected the office holders. The complete CEC list is as follows:
| Chairman | Heng Swee Keat | Members (in alphabetical order)
|
Alex Yeo Cheryl Chan Indranee Thurai Rajah Josephine Teo Ng Chee Meng Tan Chuan-Jin Tan See Leng Vivian Balakrishnan |
| Vice Chairman | Masagos Zulkifli | ||
| Secretary-General | Lee Hsien Loong | ||
| Deputy Secretary-General | Lawrence Wong | ||
| Assistant Secretary-Generals | Chan Chun Sing Desmond Lee |
||
| Treasurer | K Shanmugam | ||
| Assistant Treasurer | Ong Ye Kung | ||
| Organising Secretaries | Grace Fu Edwin Tong* |
It is no surprise that the Labour Chief Ng Chee Meng has been co-opted.
On 28th June this year, DPM Lawrence Wong launched the Forward Singapore exercise – a nationwide engagement to gather views from Singaporeans on the roadmap for our nation’s next stage of development. The Forward Singapore exercise consists of six thematic pillars headed by the 4G leadership team, and NTUC Secretary General Ng Chee Meng is one of the leaders involved in leading the exercise.
Why – one may ask. Well, Ng has been serving in the Labour Movement since 2018. Under his leadership, the LM has continued to roll out numerous initiatives to uplift the wages, welfare and work prospects of all workers. His job has been extra tough amidst the turbulence of the past few years. (Remember, the magnitude of employment losses in Singapore during the Covid-19 pandemic was unprecedented, more than in any other crisis!)
At the height of the pandemic in 2020, NTUC initiated various efforts such as working with management to retrain, cut costs and save jobs, as well as redeploy workers! When the announcement of the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS) was made, the NTUC stepped in to help MOM administer, and Ng and his team at NTUC worked tirelessly to put together the SIRS application system in support of workers who had fallen on tough times! More than 200,000 of them.
Ng has also led the efforts of NTUC to better represent and advance the interests of Self Employed Persons (SEPs) with the formation of the Visual, Audio, Creative Content Professionals Association (Singapore) (VICPA) and the National Delivery Champions Association (NDCA) in December 2020.
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Acknowledging the challenges of PMEs, a year ago, the NTUC-SNEF PME Taskforce submitted nine recommendations to the MOM, to consider and effect changes that will level the playing field for our PMEs.
Just recently, the Taskforce shared the updates and most of the recommendations are already showing progress, like the new Complementarity Assessment Framework (COMPASS) and upcoming TAFEP Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices legislations, and a strengthened NTUC Job Security Council!
NTUC Singapore is still lobbying for unemployment support for our PMEs, which will provide much needed assistance to vulnerable PMEs. In a Facebook post, Ng has expressed his joy that MOM will seriously consider NTUC’s proposal for unemployment support to assist PMEs at critical junctures of their working lives. The work continues.
The Labour Movement and the PAP have always enjoyed a longstanding symbiotic relationship over the past decades. And this relationship will become even more crucial as more and more workers face increasing uncertainties and economic disruptions. One may find this symbiotic relationship surprising. Actually, did you know that our founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew first fought alongside the Postal and Telecommunications Uniformed Staff Union back in 1952 as lawyer and spokesman at the postmen’s strike? Mr Lee was a true fighter for workers. When the PAP was formally inaugurated on 21 November 1954, about 1500 people attended the event and two-thirds were PAP supporters from the unions! The Labour Movement has always been the PAP’s key partner. The ties go all the way back – before either “PAP” or “NTUC” even existed. Since the early years, the PAP government, unions and employers have worked together well. The harmonious labour relations is a “unique recipe”, one that has attracted investments and created jobs for many, many Singaporeans even till this day!
As NTUC Secretary General, Ng has a big role to play in the CEC. The Labour Movement has definitely done a commendable job under the Labour Chief amidst the turmoil of the past few years. And it’s not letting up. In August this year, the “#EveryWorkerMatters Conversations” launched, with the Labour Movement seeking to better understand workers’ work-life needs, concerns, fears and aspirations. The co-optation of Ng shows that the Party is recognising his role and value as Labour Chief and the choice reflects the ground realities today.
