Amalgamated Union Of Public Employees

AUPE kicked off its first 50th Anniversary celebration activity with an AUPE Co-operatives Forum on 10 January 2009 at Fullerton Hotel.

In his opening address, Mr Ma Wei Cheng, Chairman of the AUPE Co-operatives Anniversaries Committee and Secretary of the AUPE Multi-Purpose Co-operative (MPC), touched on the founding of the Union and its subsequent entities since 1959 to some 100 invited guests at the Forum.

From its humble beginnings in 1965, the MPC’s membership had grown from 65 to 14,478 and its members’ savings grew from $4,093 to $99.8 million as at end 2008. Its success had benefited many members and in 1988, MPC founded the AUPE General Services Co-operative to benefit members even more. AUPE went on to form the AUPE Sports & Recreation Club in 1987 and later the AUPE Foundation Co-operative in 2004 to provide more comprehensive benefits and services to members.

The vision of the founding fathers of AUPE had been realised to a large extent. Besides celebrating the union’s 50th anniversary, it also fitting to celebrate the anniversaries of the other entities as a Group for their objectives are similar and intertwined, which is for the betterment of our members and their families, said Mr Ma.

In his presentation, he cited the importance of joint recruitment efforts and servicing by both the Union and MPC. The MPC has to cast its net wider and deeper to recruit more members, as larger membership means members would save more and borrow more, thus strengthening it numerically and financially.

He emphasised that feedback from customers is always appreciated as it would give management and staff the opportunity to reflect and improve on our administrative system and service.

Mr Ma concluded with a quote by G Kandasamy, our Founding Father: “Trade unions and co-operatives are but two limbs of the same body of the Workers Movement; one helps to better working conditions and the other helps to improve the economic conditions.” They planted the seeds and grew them into strong trees with good shade.

The next presentation by Mr Yeo Chun Fing, Vice-Chairman of the MPC, highlighted the Co-operative’s twin engines of growth, which comprises its loan business and the investment of its funds for low, moderate and high returns. Participants had a snapshot of its investment strategies and how our funds are invested for the short term, middle term and long term.

Moving forward, we should continue to seek good opportunities to maximise the returns of our funds in order to do more for our members. At the same time we must also be mindful of our responsibilities towards our members and stay true to our objectives as a Co-operative, said Mr Yeo.

Is it the right time to buy? Are property stocks going up? Which sector is likely to rebound? These were some of the burning questions raised when 3 speakers from the Standard Chartered Bank, Aberdeen Fund House and Allianz Global Investor updated participants on the current economic outlook and shared with them some investment strategies and opportunities after lunch.

Mr Teo Yock Ngee, Chairman of Multi-purpose Co-operative, presents tokens of appreciation to speakers at the Forum:

Based on feedback received, participants had found the Forum informative, insightful and enlightening as it gave them a better understanding of what is happening in the global and local economies. It would also help them in making informed decision on growing their investments, despite the current economic downturn.

AUPE would like to thank Standard Chartered Bank for sponsoring the Forum and the Staff Party, which was held on the same evening. Its generous gesture had benefited our participants and contributed much towards the success of the events.

The Singapore Government Division IV Employees Agreement 2009 was signed between the Public Service Division (PSD) and AUPE at The Treasury on 19 January 2009.

The Agreement took effect from 1 February 2009 and will remain in force for a period of three years up to 31 January 2012.

(a)

The “Workmen’s Compensation Act” has been renamed as “Work Injury Compensation Act”.

(b)

Clause 7(3) in the 2006 Collective Agreement has been deleted as there is no need to have a separate clause for school employees since hours of work and overtime payment are already covered under Clauses 7(1) and 8 of the Collective Agreement.

A Letter of Exchange was also signed between PSD and AUPE, which provides a re-employment clause for retiring employees.

Discussion on re-employment prospects with retiring employees should be made no later than 3 months before retirement and subject to the conditions below:

Employee’s medical fitness for the job;

Consistent good performance;

Good conduct with no disciplinary issues.

Employment assistance will be provided where necessary if the Ministry is not able to offer re-employment.

Hospitalisation claims amounting to $11,460 had helped Mr Foo Fong Yew, an AUPE member during his time of need last year.

Mr Foo, a Higher Customs Officer from the Special Investigation Branch, Singapore Customs, was injured during duty on 20 January 2008.

On that fateful morning, Mr Foo was at the wheel waiting for his colleagues who were conducting a raid on cigarette peddlers in Mandai when a lorry rammed into his departmental car parked along the side of the road.

The impact of the crash rocked the car and seriously injured Mr Foo. He suffered spinal injury and was hospitalised for about 11 months. Despite an operation to treat the injury, he is still bedridden.

The father of two has been undergoing physiotherapy and hopes to get well enough to be able to sit up on the wheelchair.

The union is helping Mr Foo to make a total permanent disability claim under the NTUC Gift.

This is a case in point when members can receive cash benefits in times of need. By paying only $2 per month, they are assured of a cash amount to help them pay their hospitalisation bills in addition to their other insurance payouts.

For year 2008, AUPE had paid out a total amount of $152,790 to 897 members under this benefit.

AUPE members and their families had received a total of $564,500 in the form of union benefits for year 2008.

AUPE provides financial assistance schemes to help members and their families in the event of death, permanent total disability and hospitalisation. The AUPE Group Study Grants Scheme helps low-income members defray education costs for their children.

Cash benefits payable to nominated beneficiaries of associate members in the event of death or permanent disability of member.

Cash benefits payable to ordinary and ordinary (general) members in the event of death of members’ parents and children.

Additional cash benefits payable to nominated beneficiaries of associate members upon death of the member. Cash benefits range from $300 to $1,200 based on their years of membership.

Cash benefit of $30 per day for the 1st 10 days of hospitalisation and $40 from the 11th day up to a maximum of 52 weeks. Covers all ordinary, ordinary (general) and associate members below the age of 65 and who pay a monthly levy of $2 in addition to the union subscription.

Details of claims paid out to members for year 2008:

AUPE Group study grants are for deserving children of lower-income members. Per capita income is the main criteria for the eligibility of the grants based on allocated budget. Members with at least one year’s membership from the date announced by the Study Grants Committee may apply for the grant for their children.

A total amount of $90,500 was disbursed to 678 successful applicants from the Union and Co-operative in 2008.

NTUC Gift is a group insurance scheme that pays out cash benefits in the event of death and permanent total disability to members and their spouses.

It covers Ordinary and ordinary (general) members who are between 16 to 65 years of age, with at least 6 months of continuous union membership and must be physically and actively at work.

With effect from 1 May 07, the following extensions are made:

coverage of up to age 68 years if membership is 10 years or more

coverage of up to age 70 years if membership is 20 years or more

coverage of up to age 75 years if membership is 30 years or more

For year 2008, NTUC had settled a total of 30 claims to members under the NTUC Gift. Details of the claims are shown below:

AUPE members had also benefited from the following financial relief and social schemes administered by NTUC to help lower-income workers:

*Union members and their families enjoy a day’s outing at Downtown East, fully sponsored by the NTUC Club.

The 1-day workshop had given union leaders and union branch officials an insight to the depth of the current world economic situation which is described by many to be as bad as the 20th century’s Great Depression in the 1930s and the worst economic crisis the world has ever seen.

The debilitating effects of the contagion had drastically changed the world economic order to a great extent – from lenders to borrowers, manufacturers to end-users, and the wealthy to the man-in-the-street. The domino theory rings loud as the functionality of commerce as we know it had slowed to a grinding halt with many countries reporting low or negative growth.

As recent as two to three years ago, one would not have envisaged the failures of some of the world’s top premium banks and financial institutions to the point of collapse and that sovereign wealth funds as the ultimate saviour who would provide the lifeline towards their survival. In the area of enterprise, borrowers outnumber lenders simply because lenders would not lend for the fear of defaults which could seriously affect their bottom line. Such regressive practices would invariably aggravate and contribute to the already delicate vicious cycle of the slowdown.

“Upturn-the-Downturn” had given participants an enlightened approach to the current world economic maelstrom as we at home seek out answers to harness and galvanise our resources to engage the problems at hand and the varied ways the multi-faceted $20.5 billion package could help to ‘choke-start’ the economy.

Hardworking facilitators at the workshop spared no time to explain the main focal themes in the tight programme. Topics covered included, the Current Economic Situation of Singapore; the Role of Unions in an Economic Downturn; Best IR Practices and Lessons Learnt in Handling Retrenchments and Excess Manpower; Handling a Retrenchment Exercise & Unexpected Situations; Helping Company Manage Excess Manpower & Retrenched Workers – Sharing on Training Schemes by e2i; and above all, Communications During the Downturn.

Participants were made aware of the 3 core priorities the Labour Movement (LM) has designed to tackle the economic downturn which are, to cut cost to save jobs; to upskill and reskill for new and different jobs; and to stay the course for long term objectives.

Also unveiled are the 3 KPIs, i.e. to Avoid Record Retrenchments; to Avoid Record Un-employment; and to Strive for More Up When Up.

The LM’s 4 “Most Commitments” were shared too. These are :

With the entire might of the Labour Movement led by the NTUC and the measures drawn up to face the unpredictable onslaught together with strong leadership that we have, we should now play our part to justify the hard work they have put in to ensure continued stability of the labour force.

As the old adage goes, there is always the light at the end of the tunnel and that what goes down must come up eventually. There is always the anticipation of an eventual upturn no matter how prolonged the financial pandemic would be. There is no need to be overly despondent over the entire scenario - a bad patch that no one wants but have to grapple with like it or not, brace ourselves and live through. The trick to survival may come in the form of a positive overview of situations and to tackle them with a clear mind as they show. While futurists are at a loss for predictions, our monetary prudence through the years would enable us to muscle our way forward albeit with some bruises along the way.

Therefore, take heart fellow citizens and comrades. Turn the tables on the DOWNTURN and Chin up for the UPTURN !!

After a day-long affair at the AUPE Co-operatives Forum, AUPE staff was ready to let their hair down and enjoy a night of fun and revelry at the annual staff party held in the evening on 10 January 2009.

For 9 staff, the celebration this year was of greater significance as they received cash awards for their loyal service. They were:

General Secretary Teo Yock Ngee, among the recipients that night, expressed his appreciation to his colleagues, whose support and co-operation had made his 20 years with AUPE very gratifying and meaningful.

Mdm Lee Cheow Gek, Senior Manager of the AUPE Co-op & Union Membership Services, could not hide her elation as she took photos with her well wishers to mark the event. She was grateful for the opportunities that the organisation had given her.

Assistant General Secretary Ng Hee Seng won hands down as he emerged the “belle” of the night amidst loud cheers and applause from the audience.

The Staff Party is an annual get-together to promote bonding and reward staff for their hard work during the past year.

What a difference a day makes or rather what a difference a few hours would make for residents of the Ju Eng Home for Senior Citizens and for the people who had chosen to spend time with them in the complex which is situated at No.205, Jalan Kayu, in the northern part of the island.

The annual calendar event that bonds everyone from management, staff and the union was held in the warm and humid afternoon of 20thJanuary 2009. The visit was another collaborative effort undertaken by the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) management and the AUPE-SSC Staff Branch. The union branch social committee had identified the Home for the visit this time round.

In 1995, the Home’s founder and philanthropist, the late Elder Ang Oon Hue donated the land that housed Ju Eng Primary School to the Government for conversion into a 320-bed Nursing Home intended for the elderly poor and sick.

As a Volunteer Welfare Organisation (VWO), Ju Eng Home for Senior Citizens is committed to accept 90% of subsidised/destitute cases referred to by the Ministry of Health (MOH). It seeks “to provide shelter and care for the frail aged and aged sick of Singapore, destitute or otherwise, irrespective of race and religion and promote their physical, mental and spiritual welfare”. As it stood, the majority of Ju Eng Home’s residents is demented and is either wheelchair bound or is bedridden.

Regular volunteers to the Home consist of an array of medical and dental professionals and allied personnel, hairdressers, masseurs, counsellors and even entertainers among others. While the MOH funds the recurrent expenditure of the Home based on the number of subsidised residents, appropriations from donations would further serve to provide ready and respectable care opportunities to the needy.

Care comes in the form of geriatrics and other ancillary services like physiotherapy, occupational therapy and dietetics. Also, good palliative care by committed professionals would ensure that the afflicted could be kept as comfortable as it is possible through to their last days.

The joint visit could be described as unprecedented in many ways. SSC’s management was led by Ms Lynette Lim, Chief of Organisation Development and supported by many staff members from Human Resource and other workplaces. The union’s Deputy General Secretaries, Mr P Menon and Mr Ma Wei Cheng also lent much credence to the occasion.

The event was by far one of the more vibrant activities the project team had undertaken over the years. Everyone contributed. From the immaculate rendition of “The Moon Represents my Heart” by singing Director Dorcas Tan to Deputy Director Alvin Yong’s portrayal of the “God of Fortune” and other heartwarming song pieces brought on by a cross section of staff and other pieces that were presented by a strong cast of SSC “evergreens”. It was difficult task indeed to redefine exhilaration. Especially so, with diehard participants in lifeguards Johan on the unicycle and the singing and strumming duo of Osman and Bakar on board year after year that had kept us engaged, need we say more?

YOUNG AUPE had never disappointed in their contributions. This time, led by Tan Sze Wei and Fauziah Zainal, they sang their hearts out in unison prompted by the captivating comradeship fervour of fellow humankind gathered around them.

Midway through the proceedings, “mee rebus” was served and “ang pows” and mandarin oranges distributed to residents as part of the tight-knit programme. Most enjoyed the “mee rebus” that was dished out by comrades in a “gotong royong” (active group participation) fashionand some of them were seen to be asking for even more helpings.

Acknowledgement of appreciation goes to a multi-stellar cast of talented people. To Zarina Yassin of SSC Staff Communications for her untiring efforts to co-ordinate and promote the event on the SSC Intranet and consistently updating data in the preceding weeks leading to the event; AUPE Assistant Director Maria Ang for her meticulous attention to record the event in pictures; and our Branch Assistant Secretary Thomas Lee’s gold-medal winning emceeing posture. Special mention goes to the Chairman of the AUPE-SSC Staff Branch, Derrick Yeo Swee Kiong for his superlative spirit in bringing about such undertakings to fruition season after season.

Donations came in the form of cash and kind. The total amount of $3,978 had been collected from SSC staff, AUPE officials and AUPE-SSC Staff Branch members including the AUPE Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Ltd. Donations in kind included a wide variety of consumable provisions. All in, 33 items have been manifested.

As the event drew to a close, SSC’s Lynette Lim and the Deputy General Secretary of AUPE, Ma Wei Cheng handed over the donations collected to Ms Esther Lim, the Operations Manager of Ju Eng Home for Senior Citizens on stage, on behalf of their respective organisations.

It was a truly satisfying and meaningful afternoon. More importantly, comrades were touched by the presence of both union and management officials who demonstrated the harmonious and close relationship between them. And such gesture of goodwill attests that the Council is not only outward-looking but also a caring organisation as well.

To conclude, it is hoped that for future home visitations, members would bring along with them their families as well. This is because children could be offered the rare glimpse and the unique opportunity to see at first hand what life in a Senior Citizens’ Home really is like. They would be intrigued too to want to know more about the destitute in the Homes and the care and concern given by our society.

Well, let’s meet again for another meaningful and fruitful endeavour at another Home, shall we?

- By Tan Sze Wei, Secretary & Young AUPE activist

The marina barrage with a catchment area of 10,000 hectares is the island’s largest and most urbanised catchment area. It is also currently the most talked about downtown icon.

Eager to find out more, I joined 85 other union members at this hip venue on 7 Feb 2009 on a learning journey to discover Singapore’s efforts to be an environmentally sustainable country. How did we as a tiny country with limited resources overcome our constraints to be self sufficient in our water supplies? What were Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s thoughts nearly two decades ago when he envisaged the damming of the mouth of the Marina Channel to create a freshwater reservoir?

The learning journey organised by YCISnet, an affinity group of Young NTUC started with a quick introduction of the barrage, comprising a series of nine crest gates spanning 350m across the Marina Channel. Next, we were led through six galleries filled with innovative multimedia and fun interactives, where we learned about Singapore’s sustainable story.

Besides touring the galleries, YCISnet core group members facilitated fun and witty icebreakers, during which participants mingled well and found new friends. We certainly enjoyed ourselves, if our loud cheers and laughter were anything to go by!

The final stop at the green roof was an ideal place for photo taking with a magnificent and breath taking view of the city skyline. At the end of the event, participants left with big smiles on their faces and a new level of awareness and commitment to make Singapore more environmentally sustainable and a better place to live in.

Members of AUPE or AUPE Multi-Purpose Co-operative Society, with at least one year’s membership as of 1 April 2009 may apply for study grants for their children.

The closing date for application is 30 April 2009. The completed Application Form and other supporting documents are to be forwarded to AUPE or AUPE Multi-Purpose Co-operative Society at WISMA AUPE, 295 Upper Paya Lebar Road, 3rd Level, Singapore 534929. Late submission will not be entertained. Proof of posting is not accepted as evidence of submission. For enquiries, please telephone Ms Pauline Lam at DID: 63800878, Ms Rozana at DID: 63800873 or Main Line at Tel: 62808033.

Applications must be made on the prescribed form. The form may be downloaded from the AUPE website www.aupe.org.sg or obtained from your union representatives from 1 April 2009. Completed forms are to be submitted together with the following:

child’s 2008 year-end examination result (or if the child is in full-time National Service in 2008 his latest examination result); and

2008 Income Tax Form IR8E (employer does e-submission) or Form IR8A (employer does not do e-submission) of member and other members in his household. The Income Tax Form IR8E that is required is the one which “Includes payment and deductions for Performance and Related Bonus”. An employee in the Civil Service or Statutory Board can obtain his IR8E from PacGov.

A member (whether Union, Co-operative or both) may apply for his child who is a full time student in Academic Year 2009. The child has to be at least in Primary 2 or above.

The value of the grant will be based on the educational level of the child for the Year 2009.

Member’s child must not be in receipt of another study grant/bursary/scholarship from any organisation.

All details required in the Application Form must be completed, as otherwise application may be disqualified.

The decision of the Selection Committee is final. No correspondence will be entered into with the applicant before, during or after the grants are made.

In deciding on the grants, the Selection Committee will consider, among others, the budget available and the number of applications received. As the number of applications usually exceeds the budget allocated, the Selection Committee will try its best to spread the grant to as many deserving members as possible.

The grants are meant to help lower income families. Per capita family income is one of the key criterions for the grant. The formula for calculation of monthly per capita family income is as follows: