FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

25 September 2014

MEDIA STATEMENT BY THE NATIONAL EMPLOYERS FEDERATION ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SNEF-STEPHEN LEE AWARD 2015-2020 AND NEW COUNCIL ELECTED FOR 2014-2016

Recognising the Contributions of Immediate Past President Mr Stephen Lee

1. The Singapore National Employers Federation is pleased to announce the establishment of the SNEF-Stephen Lee Award to recognise the contributions of Mr Stephen Lee. Mr Lee stepped down as its President on 31 August 2014 after 26 years at its helm. The award will fund annually up to two executive development programmes in tripartism and industrial relations from 2015 to 2020. The Award was endorsed by the 34th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and the 176th Council meeting led by SNEF’s President Dr Robert Yap today.

2. The Award is a recognition of the commitment and dedication of Mr Lee to advancing tripartism, industrial peace and labour market flexibility to benefit both employers and their employees. The objective of the programme is to develop senior executives who can provide the leadership for the SNEF secretariat and for employers to work with our tripartite partners to further strengthen tripartism and maintain industrial harmony to benefit all employers and workers in Singapore.

3. The Federation has raised $3.3 million to fund the award. Over the next five years, SNEF will set aside $1.4 million, inclusive of $50,000 of seed money from Mr Stephen Lee. The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), NTUC Fairprice, NTUC Income, NTUC Choice Homes and Mercatus together will contribute $0.7 million. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will also contribute $0.7 million. The Singapore Labour Foundation (SLF) will support the tripartite effort by contributing $0.5 million.

4. Said Mr Stephen Lee, “It is an honour for me to be associated with this Award. I hope that the award will trigger interest in tripartism and industrial relations as a career. A professional, competent, strong and responsible SNEF secretariat will provide the support for the Council to carry on the task of further strengthening the tripartite partnership. I am touched by the gesture and the generous contributions of the tripartite partners.”

5. Said Secretary-General of the NTUC, Mr , “NTUC strongly supports SNEF’s initiative in setting up the SNEF-Stephen Lee Award. Stephen has been a great partner of the Labour Movement since 1980. As a distinguished tripartite partner and a respected leader in the business community, he has played a key role in fostering mutual trust and respect between employers and labour unions all these years. The development of future generations of professionals to strengthen the employers’ role in tripartism is a good move to build on Stephen’s legacy. It will contribute to the further strengthening of Singapore tripartism for the mutual benefits of workers and businesses.”

6. Minister for Manpower Mr Tan Chuan-Jin said: “The Government fully supports our tripartite partners’ efforts to build a pipeline of senior executives with a deep appreciation of tripartism and who can help to bring our tripartite partnership to greater heights. Mr Stephen Lee has made invaluable contributions to tripartism in Singapore during his term as President SNEF, and the SNEF-Stephen Lee Award is a fitting legacy of Mr Lee’s contributions. We are particularly pleased that the award will provide senior executives with the opportunity to work with MOM, and hope that this experience will deepen the award recipients’ appreciation of tripartism and the importance of preserving industrial harmony in Singapore.”

7. SLF’s Chairman, Mr added: “A strong tripartism benefits Singapore and Singaporeans and I would like to thank Mr Stephen Lee for his contributions to tripartism as President of SNEF. SLF is honoured to be part of SNEF’s initiative to develop and strengthen its leadership bench through the introduction of the SNEF-Stephen Lee Award.”

8. Added SNEF President, Dr Robert Yap, “We are very grateful to the Government and the Labour Movement for their support, both in terms of the financing as well as their involvement in the programme. This will make the programme unique and provide awardees with both breadth and depth in learning how Tripartism works. At the end of the programme, awardees will be able to quickly take up appropriate senior appointments with SNEF or possibly some member companies. We expect them to make a significant contribution to strengthening Tripartism and to helping employers to tackle their employment and industrial relations challenges for many years to come.”

Going Forward with a New Council

9. A new Council was elected by the 34th SNEF AGM today for a two-year term from 2014-2016. Ten members were elected for the first time, of which nine had previously been appointed by the Council over the two-year period since the 32nd AGM in September 2012 to renew the leadership of SNEF. The Council elected Dr Robert Yap as the President.

10. Said Dr Yap at the AGM, “I am very pleased that many CEOs have stepped up to the plate to help lead SNEF. Council members are also actively involved in various areas of SNEF’s work. Employers face many challenges over the next two years such as raising productivity, managing the manpower and skills shortage, adapting to changes in the workforce profile as well tackling rising business costs.

11. The Council will look at talent management as a key corporate strategy that can help address these issues. As part of this strategy, it is important for employers to fully support the recommendations of the ASPIRE committee and to build up the capability to provide career pathways for non-graduates who make up a significant share of the workforce. We will also see how the private sector can provide more thought and practice leadership to give productivity an added push. Thirdly, the Federation will continue to push to keep the labour market flexible to support new investments and job creation to drive business growth. We all look forward to working with our members as well as the Government and the Labour Movement to

meet these challenges to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth for the benefit of all stakeholders. ”

12. Said Mr Alexander Melchers, Vice President of SNEF, who has been on the council since 2003, “It has been a very challenging but rewarding experience for me. After learning the ropes, I was fortunate to be given the task of chairing the Tripartite Implementation Workgroup for the Employment of Older Workers which drafted the guidelines for re-employment. Drawing on the experience of Europe and in particular Germany in recent years, labour market flexibility is very close to my heart and it is something SNEF must push to preserve and even enhance. So I hope I can continue to contribute in that area.”

13. Added John Ng, Vice President and Chairman of SNEF Industrial Relations Panel (IRP) who was first elected in 2010, “Since serving on the Council, I have a better understanding of the workings of tripartism and how it has enabled businesses to enjoy industrial peace so that they can focus on growing their companies. As Chairman of IRP, I am also involved in the review of employment legislations and policies affecting human resource management. My involvement in the Tripartite Security Cluster has given me a deeper understanding of the plight of low wage workers and the challenges faced by companies in trying to raise their wages. I am pleased to be able to contribute to the employers’ cause.”

14. Said Mr Douglas Foo who first joined the SNEF Council in 2012 and who was recently elected as the President of Singapore Manufacturing Federation, “The manufacturing sector faces many manpower and productivity challenges. It is also among the more highly unionised sector. Hence, I am looking forward to working with MOM and NTUC and to leverage on my SMF and SNEF roles for more synergy to tackle some of these issues in the manufacturing sector.”

Retired Council Members to Provide Advice and Continuity

15. At the AGM, five council members stepped down. They were Mr Stephen Lee (Immediate Past President), Mr Bob Tan, Chairman, Jurong Engineering Limited (Vice President), Mr James Lee, Senior Advisor, Wing Tai Holdings Ltd (Honorary Treasurer), Mr Freddy Lam, Chief Executive, Solid Gold Group of Companies (Deputy Honorary Treasurer) and Mr Steven Goh, Executive Chairman, Retail Asia Publishing Pte Ltd (Honorary Secretary). Mr Lee will continue to be involved with SNEF as its Immediate Past President especially in re-employment and NWC matters. The Council has appointed Mr Bob Tan, Mr James Lee and Mr Steven Goh as senior advisors up to 31 Aug 2015 to assist the Federation. In this respect, Mr Bob Tan will continue as the SNEF Co-chair of the Tripartite Alliance on Fair and Progressive Employment Practices.

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Koh Juan Kiat Chua Ker Sin Executive Director Deputy Director, Research Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

About Singapore National Employers Federation

The Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) is a trade union of employers. Our mission is to advance tripartism and responsible employment practices for sustainable business growth for the benefit of employers and their employees. SNEF has a membership of over 3,000 companies with a combined workforce of over 750,000.

A. The five retired Council members are:

Tenure on No Name Designation / Company SNEF Council 1 Mr Stephen Lee, 1980-2014 Chairman, Singapore Airlines Ltd DUBC, BBM Chairman, NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative Ltd Managing Director, Great Malaysia Textile Investments Pte Ltd

2 Mr Bob Tan, BBM 1986-2014 Chairman, Jurong Engineering Limited

3 Mr James Lee, 1980-2014 Senior Advisor, Wing Tai Holdings Ltd PBM

4 Mr Steven Goh, 1988-2014 Executive Chairman, Retail Asia Publishing Pte Ltd PBM

5 Mr Freddy Lam 1990-2014 Chief Executive / Managing Director Solid Gold Group of Companies

B. SNEF Council 2014-2016

No Name Title / SNEF Designation / Company 1 Dr Robert Yap President Chairman & CEO Chin Kok YCH Group Pte Ltd Board Member, IE Singapore Member, MINDEF ACCORD Employer & Business Council Board Member, MPA Singapore Member, National Productivity & Continuing Education Council

2 Mr Alexander C. Vice President Director & General Manager Melchers, BBM, C. Melchers GmbH & Co., Singapore Branch PBM Board Member, TAFEP Member, Tri-Com on Employability of Older Workers

3 Mr John Ng Peng Vice President CEO Wah Singapore LNG Corporation Pte Ltd. Board Member, CPF Board Member, National Integration Council Chairman, SNEF Industrial Relations Panel Co-chair, Tripartite Security Cluster

No Name Title / SNEF Designation / Company 4 Dr Lim Suet Wun, Honorary CEO, Parkway Operations Division BBM Secretary Parkway Group Healthcare Pte Ltd Board Member, CPF Board Member, MINDEF ACCORD

5 Mr Tan Hee Teck Honorary President and Chief Operating Officer, Genting Treasurer Singapore CEO, Resorts World at Sentosa Pte Ltd Member, MINDEF ACCORD Employer & Business Council Board Member, Singapore Hotel Association Member, Industry Advisory Committee for Singapore Institute of Technology’s Bachelor Degree Program in Hospitality

6 Mr Robert Yap Min Deputy President Choy Honorary DFS Venture Singapore (Pte) Limited Secretary

7 Ms Tan Hwee Bin, Deputy Executive Director PBM Honorary Wing Tai Holdings Ltd Treasurer Chairman, NTUC Health Co-operative Ltd

8 Mr Han Kwee Juan Member CEO Citibank Singapore Ltd Alternate Council Member, The Association of Banks in Singapore Member, The National Advisory Council - COMPASS, Ministry of Education

9 Mr Victor Chia Eng Member CEO, Dairy Farm Singapore (Food) Hong Cold Storage (1983) Singapore Pte Ltd Chairman, WDA Retail Industry Skills and Training Council

10 Mr Bennett Neo Member CEO Gim Siong EMAS Offshore Pte Ltd Chairman, Board of Trustees of Migrant Workers’ Assistance Fund Co-chair, Migrant Workers’ Forum

11 Mr Andrew Chong Member President & Managing Director Yang Hsueh Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific Pte Ltd

No Name Title / SNEF Designation / Company 12 Mr Junichi Sasaki Member President & CEO Itochu Singapore Pte Ltd President, Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Industry Singapore

13 Mr Heinrich Member Chairman Jessen Jebsen & Jessen (SEA) Pte Ltd Ex-officio member, SNEF Industrial Relations Panel

14 Mr Jonathan Member Regional Director, ASEAN & Pacific Asherson, PBM Rolls-Royce Singapore Pte Ltd Board Member, Singapore International Chamber of Commerce Member, MINDEF ACCORD Employer & Business Council

15 Mr Douglas Foo Member Chairman Peow Yong, BBM, Sakae Holdings Ltd PBM President, Singapore Manufacturing Federation (w.e.f. 19 Oct 2014) Member, Singapore Business Federation SME Committee Co-chair, Tripartite Cleaning Cluster

16 Mr Roland Ng San Member Managing Director & Group CEO Tiong, BBM Tat Hong Holdings Pte Ltd Vice President, Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry

17 Mr Laurence Chin Member Country Manager Singapore & Offline Sales Chien Chwin United Airlines Inc. (Singapore Branch) Ex-officio member, SNEF Industrial Relations Panel Honorary Secretary, American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore

The SNEF-Stephen Lee Award

Rationale

1. There is wide choice of careers for Singaporeans. It is a challenging task to find people who are interested in the niche area of representing the collective interests of employers in industrial relations and work at achieving consensus at the national level with the Government and the unions. Yet committed Industrial Relations (IR) Officers working at every level in MOM, NTUC and SNEF are at the heart of tripartism and industrial harmony.

2. The core of the Employers Federation’s competence lies in industrial relations. Key secretariat staff must develop a deep knowledge of employment and IR laws, employer priorities and their differing concerns, and how tripartism works. As such, building up IR leadership and competence in SNEF is crucial to supporting employers, and more importantly to the continuing strong and responsible role of SNEF and employers in tripartism.

The Programme

3. The awards are to be offered with the aim of encouraging Singaporeans to take an interest in tripartism and to pursue this as a career. Those who qualify would be mid-career executives and managers who would already have some basic grounding in industrial relations and tripartism.

4. The 24-month programme will comprise mentoring and accelerated development which would include:

i. meetings with Stephen Lee and key tripartite leaders ii. mentoring by a team of senior SNEF staff iii. early and extensive exposure to tripartite meetings and discussions iv. in-depth training in employment laws and tripartite guidelines v. discussions with tripartite veterans vi. oversea training stints to understand global developments in industrial relations

5. Underlining the importance of understanding the Labour Movement, about 20% of the programme will have the awardees shadowing the work of union IROs as well as participate in the relevant programmes organised by NTUC. And to complete the tripartite engagement, the awardees will also be attached to the Ministry of Manpower, TAFEP, the Migrant Workers Centre and other government agencies.

6. The candidate upon acceptance of the award will be bonded for 3 years after completion of the programme.

7. Those interested in the 2015 awards may email to [email protected]