NTUC recently outlined its targets for the next four years to help workers thrive in the future.
Newly elected NTUC President K Thanaletchimi shed light on the Labour Movement’s resolve to bolster membership, enhance the Company Training Committee initiative, and ensure inclusive leadership renewal.
She also shared her personal journey, pivotal moments, and the legacy she hopes to build on.
LabourBeat: How do you feel about being elected NTUC President? What are your initial feelings and thoughts about taking NTUC forward?
My first reaction was that it is unbelievable, but I accepted it with great humility. It is a tall order for the next four years, and I hope to work with my Secretary-General, and the Central Committee [CC, NTUC’s planning, policy, and executive organ] to form a robust team and deliver what we have promised.
I’m very grateful to the union leaders for their great support. There are 58 unions, and they give tremendous support to the entire team, and believe in us as we work towards our goal.
Reflecting on your journey within the Labour Movement, what pivotal moments or experiences have shaped your perspective and approach to carry on helping workers?
I am a proponent of the Labour Movement and a firm believer of what the Labour Movement does in Singapore.
I have been in the Labour Movement since my early 20s, in my union capacity, and moved up the ladder. I became the President of the Healthcare Services Employees Union (HSEU) in my early 30s.
I’m a firm believer of helping workers. In simple terms, when we say help, we help in many ways. We help them to beef up their financial capabilities, dignity, and respect.
We also help them to beef up their emotional quotient because sometimes workers may lose their jobs — this is where the union becomes a friend to give a helping hand, a shoulder to cry on. At the same time, we hand hold them to uplift them.
I always feel that these are the fundamental roles of the union. If you can touch the heart of every worker, you can adhere to your conscience that you’ve done the right thing.
How does NTUC plan to address key areas for future growth and inclusivity? What strategies are being envisioned to achieve these goals?
There is this resolve to do better in three areas. Firstly, maintaining high membership. We must reduce the leakages, attrition, and recruit more workers — a more inclusive, younger PME [professional, manager, and executive] workforce especially, and we must attempt to do that and protect their interests.
While we are inclusive, there are other workforce segments which are underrepresented. We must ensure that we reach out to them, like the gig workers and many others. Their interests are certainly something that we want to look at, especially their retirement and healthcare. Membership is key, it’s the lifeblood of the unions.
The second important aspect is the Company Training Committee (CTC). We want to focus on this because I believe the best welfare we can give to the workers is their skill set to be relevant and in demand.
We want to work with the companies because they know better which jobs are going to be obsolete in years to come, and what jobs are going to be the ‘in’ thing. Once the unions engage the companies, we look at their job roles, redesign their job roles, and make sure they get better value-added wages and career prospects.
We have a target, but we can do better. We hope to sign 2,500 CTCs by 2025 because we have 1,700 currently. This can be achieved if we have the concerted effort of all units.
The third aspect is as important as the first two – that is to ensure leadership renewal. You can see that while we talk about inclusiveness, we also must demonstrate that we are inclusive in every level of leadership.
We are very happy that we have elected someone who is 40-years-old in the NTUC CC .
We want refreshed leadership with more ideas who can better engage with the new workforce segments. We need to put in our effort to do it because it doesn’t come naturally. We need to publicise the good work of NTUC so that what we are doing can resonate with our younger workforce. They will find meaningful purpose in it and would want to join us and climb up the ladder of leadership.
In steering the NTUC towards the vision for 2027, do you have specific values or principles that you hold dear? How do you intend to infuse them into the fabric of the Labour Movement?
My personal belief is that it is very important to have integrity. I always emphasised on governance from a very early age, even in the union. It is incumbent upon us as leaders to be custodians of our members’ fees, to make use of it in a proper way to ensure that the workers benefit inevitably.
Being honest is also important. I will always feel very strongly [about] respect and dignity for every worker.
There’s no job that is too low or shameful for any worker to do. If you do it in a decent and rational way, it is a job that gives you three meals a day. Every job has to be respected, every worker has to be respected, and we need to ensure the dignity of our workforce is preserved. Cleaners, for instance, bring cleanliness to Singapore, and we have to respect them in every level.
So even during COVID, our workforce in healthcare got a lot of bashing because there were so many rules, regulations… patients could not be seen and family members were very concerned and anxious. We can understand that, but it shouldn’t give an opportunity for anyone to humiliate the worker who’s doing or discharging a duty faithfully.
The last aspect is, no one is an island, you can’t do things alone, you need a team, you need to build a network.
Can you share your insights on the legacy and contributions of outgoing President Mary Liew? How you plan to build on her work to enhance workers’ lives?
I’m filling very large shoes, that’s inevitable. I have Mary’s assurance to guide and mentor me, and she has already started that. I’m very grateful to her.
Mary is someone that I really respect. She has contributed her effort, her time, [and has a] love for the Labour Movement at many levels, even at the international level. She is someone who is unwavering in the face of setbacks and hardship.
She is also a caring and nurturing leader, and that blends in well with the NTUC Secretary-General’s role of being task-oriented [to handle] the [many] things that the Labour Movement has to do.
I hope that I can achieve that together with NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng. I believe that with the help, guidance, and support from Mary and the rest of the Central Committee members, we can.
In fact, during the first CC meeting, I said I needed all their support. Together, NTUC can level up to be a better union and achieve more than what we aim to do.