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Labour candidates on 'symbiotic' ties with PAP
TWO newly-introduced candidates yesterday defended the labour movement's ties to the People's Action Party (PAP), arguing that the only test which matters is whether workers benefited from PAP rule.
'Investments have come in, jobs have improved, wages have gone up,' was how National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) assistant secretary-general Ong Ye Kung assessed the outcome of such ties.
Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean also weighed in on recent comments about top NTUC talent being co-opted by the PAP, by saying that both are 'working on the same side'.
The Straits Times has reported that at least six new PAP candidates for the next general election will come from the NTUC. If confirmed, they will be the biggest batch fielded by the PAP from the labour movement in recent history.
Reports that candidates, like Mr Ong, 41, resigned from the civil service and moved to the NTUC ahead of their entry into politics, led to a number of letters in The Straits Times Forum page asking about the NTUC's role in politics.
Yesterday, Mr Ong said the reality is that the PAP and NTUC are aligned - just as its one-time rival, the Singapore Association of Trade Unions, was aligned with the Barisan Sosialis in the 1960s.
The NTUC's relationship with the PAP, he added, has been a boon to the lives of workers: 'That is why in the NTUC, year after year, term after term, union leaders elected by workers continue to support the symbiotic relationship with the PAP.'
Mr Desmond Choo, the other candidate from the NTUC, said that 'nothing has changed for all labour MPs: workers remain first and foremost, and that is why we will speak for them in Parliament'.
The 33-year-old is the deputy director of the NTUC's youth development unit.
Mr Teo cited a BBC radio programme on how German companies have union representatives sitting on their supervisory boards:
'So you can ask the same question - when does he stop being a union representative and when does he become a board member, and are they opposed to each other?
'But they're all trying to do the best for the company so that they can do the best for the workers. And it may take a little bit more time to discuss, negotiate and get the ideas across, but in the end... the outcome is a better one.'
RACHEL CHANG
TWO newly-introduced candidates yesterday defended the labour movement's ties to the People's Action Party (PAP), arguing that the only test which matters is whether workers benefited from PAP rule.
'Investments have come in, jobs have improved, wages have gone up,' was how National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) assistant secretary-general Ong Ye Kung assessed the outcome of such ties.
Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean also weighed in on recent comments about top NTUC talent being co-opted by the PAP, by saying that both are 'working on the same side'.
The Straits Times has reported that at least six new PAP candidates for the next general election will come from the NTUC. If confirmed, they will be the biggest batch fielded by the PAP from the labour movement in recent history.
Reports that candidates, like Mr Ong, 41, resigned from the civil service and moved to the NTUC ahead of their entry into politics, led to a number of letters in The Straits Times Forum page asking about the NTUC's role in politics.
Yesterday, Mr Ong said the reality is that the PAP and NTUC are aligned - just as its one-time rival, the Singapore Association of Trade Unions, was aligned with the Barisan Sosialis in the 1960s.
The NTUC's relationship with the PAP, he added, has been a boon to the lives of workers: 'That is why in the NTUC, year after year, term after term, union leaders elected by workers continue to support the symbiotic relationship with the PAP.'
Mr Desmond Choo, the other candidate from the NTUC, said that 'nothing has changed for all labour MPs: workers remain first and foremost, and that is why we will speak for them in Parliament'.
The 33-year-old is the deputy director of the NTUC's youth development unit.
Mr Teo cited a BBC radio programme on how German companies have union representatives sitting on their supervisory boards:
'So you can ask the same question - when does he stop being a union representative and when does he become a board member, and are they opposed to each other?
'But they're all trying to do the best for the company so that they can do the best for the workers. And it may take a little bit more time to discuss, negotiate and get the ideas across, but in the end... the outcome is a better one.'
RACHEL CHANG
