Labour Movement Leaders Among National Day Awards 2022 Recipients

Five Labour Movement leaders received the Public Service Medal (Pingat Bakti Masyarakat) at the National Day Awards this year for their contributions to workers.

The awardees were among a total of 188 Public Service Medal recipients. The Prime Minister's Office made the announcement on National Day, 9 August 2022.

The Labour Movement leaders who won the Public Service Medal were:

-        Singapore Malay Teachers' Union General Secretary Abdul Malek Ahmad

-        United Workers of Electronics & Electrical Industries President Fahmi Abu Bakar Bafana

-        Singapore Insurance Employees' Union General Secretary Luke Hee

-        NTUC Strategic Communications Director Shona Tan

-        Union of Power and Gas Employees President Tay Seng Chye

Additionally, NTUC Administration Unit Director S Thiagarajan received the Public Service Star (Bintang Bakti Masyarakat) as a Public Utilities Board (PUB) board member. Mr Thiagarajan was previously awarded the Public Service Medal in 2012.

Singapore Malay Teachers' Union (SMTU) General Secretary Abdul Malek Ahmad (Public Service Medal)

Abdul Malek Ahmad has been a union leader for Malay teachers for over three decades and has served as general secretary of SMTU for the past 16 years.

He is committed to the welfare of his members. Accordingly, he has played an essential role in resolving members' grievances.

Mr Abdul Malek has also been instrumental in advocating for the needs of the Malay-Muslim community. Under his leadership, SMTU has worked closely with the Government's M3 initiative and other Malay-Muslim Organisations on projects that can help to progress the community. In addition, some of his former students have followed in his footsteps to serve with SMTU.

About half of the union's current executive committee members are 35 years old and below. At the NTUC level, Mr Abdul Malek has contributed his views and shared ground concerns of the teaching fraternity through his appointment to the NTUC Public Cluster Committee.

He also served on various NTUC committees, such as the NTUC Education Sector and NTUC Industrial Relations Committee (Public Sector).

United Workers of Electronics & Electrical Industries (UWEEI) President Fahmi Abu Bakar Bafana (Public Service Medal)

Fahmi Abu Bakar Bafana is a veteran unionist of almost 40 years. He was elected to UWEEI's executive council in 1996.

In the union's executive council, Mr Fahmi was in various UWEEI committees such as leadership, membership and finance before he was elected UWEEI's president in 2013.

As Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific branch chairman, he has advocated for workers' upgrading. He has worked closely with the company's management team to encourage workers to undergo bite-size training as part of the company's transformation effort.

As UWEEI president, he serves as a mentor and is instrumental in developing younger union leaders.

At the NTUC level, Mr Fahmi has also served as a representative of various committees such as the Workplace Safety and Health Council's Engagement and Outreach Committee and the Industrial Workers Education and Training Fund Committee.

Singapore Insurance Employees' Union (SIEU) General Secretary Luke Hee (Public Service Medal)

Luke Hee began serving in the Labour Movement in 1999 and represents workers in the insurance industry.

He has been serving as the General Secretary of SIEU since 2013. He has also been a member of the NTUC Central Committee since 2015.

Mr Hee has provided leadership and guidance to other unions through various NTUC sub-committees. His current appointments include chairman of the NTUC Financial and Professional Services Cluster, member of the NTUC IR Council, member of the NTUC Training Council, and member of the NTUC Education and Training Fund Board of Trustees.

Mr Hee believes it is essential for the youth to participate in the Labour Movement. Accordingly, he has been actively engaging the youth at the union, NTUC and regional levels since 2001.

As a firm believer in lifelong learning, Mr Hee has worked with 23 unionised companies in the insurance industry to establish Company Training Committees.

He has also worked with various stakeholders to organise events to help workers understand how their jobs may evolve with digitalisation and technological advancements in the sector. In addition, Mr Hee met with unionised companies individually to share PMEs' concerns. He then worked with the companies on letting the union represent PMEs, providing them with an alternative channel to address workplace issues.

NTUC Strategic Communications Director Shona Tan (Public Service Medal)

Shona Tan joined NTUC in February 2007 as the corporate communications director. Currently, she oversees all communications and brand-related work for NTUC as the strategic communications director.

Ms Tan took on several other roles in NTUC over the years, including the NTUC Media co-operative managing director and service excellence director.

In 2008, Ms Tan drove efforts to transform the NTUC brand and contributed to building a strong, responsible, and caring Labour Movement. She was instrumental in refreshing the NTUC brand by developing a shared identity – among NTUC, its social enterprises and affiliated unions and associations – known as the "U" hallmark.

Today, the "U" hallmark has become synonymous with the Singapore Labour Movement.

Ms Tan also plays a key role in establishing strong internal and external communications. For example, she ensures that union leaders and staff are updated with the latest manpower issues. This is particularly important to align efforts on the ground among tripartite partners.

She also oversees communications around keeping workers informed of the efforts by NTUC and its tripartite partners.

These communications centre around helping workers achieve gainful employment through better jobs and a better living through higher wages, motivating workers to upgrade and upskill, and ensuring workers are aware of their workplace rights. 

Union of Power and Gas Employees (UPAGE) President Tay Seng Chye (Public Service Medal)

Tay Seng Chye has served in UPAGE since 1995 and has been its president since 2007.

As a part of UPAGE's key leadership team, he has played an active role in charting the way forward for the union in driving strong membership growth, advancing the interest of the workforce for the sector, and promoting progressive work practices and good labour-management relations.

Mr Tay currently chairs UPAGE's membership subcommittee. Under his leadership, the unionisation rate among UPAGE branches remains high.

UPAGE has also extended the scope of representation to include PMEs to remain relevant to the changing workforce demographic.

As UPAGE's key union leader, Mr Tay worked with the Energy Market Authority on the Market Development and Resilience Scheme. The scheme is tailored to support the power generation companies in developing their employees' capabilities. Under the scheme, UPAGE has engaged the companies to build a sustainable manpower support package for the workforce.

A full list of the 2022 National Day Awards recipients is available at the PMO website.