The “bromance” between the People’s Action Party (PAP) and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) looks set to deepen further. But is a closer union between the ruling party and the labour movement always necessarily good for workers and for Singapore?

At the PAP’s 36th Ordinary Conference on Nov 8, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong noted that the PAP and the labour movement have been close partners since PAP’s founding, and called for stronger PAP-NTUC ties.

The PAP secretary-general suggested that the party’s Members of Parliament (MPs) — who are often invited to serve as advisors to various unions — “go beyond advising, to helping out with the union ground, engaging workers directly”.

This would give the PAP MPs “a solid feel and understand the ins and outs” of worker issues such as why workers are worried and what their concerns are. 

They  can then speak up in Parliament on behalf of workers and show workers that “they have a voice in the PAP”.

In addition, the PAP “should also recruit more union leaders to join the PAP, and have more party activists in the union ranks”.

These are significant proposals even as we expect more PAP MPs to wear the hat of unionists, and more unionists to don party whites as PAP members, including their being fielded as election candidates.

Currently, the “abiding close ties” is best manifested in a PAP member, who is usually also a Cabinet Minister too, elected as the NTUC secretary-general. Several PAP MPs are also staff of NTUC.

The PAP and NTUC send representatives to attend the NTUC Delegates’ Conference and PAP Party Conference respectively.

Last week, Mr Ng Chee Meng, the NTUC secretary-general, was co-opted into the PAP’s central executive committee. 

Mr Ng was part of the PAP team that was not elected in Sengkang Group Representation Constituency in the July General Election.

The PAP-NTUC symbiotic relationship dates back to 1961. 

The PAP was instrumental in NTUC’s formation.

NTUC’s predecessor, the Singapore Trades Union Congress (STUC), was formed in 1951 as a federation of trade unions to replace the communist-linked Singapore Federation of Trade Unions, which went underground during the Malayan Emergency (1948-60).

However, the STUC was dissolved in 1961, ridden with infighting in the battle for supremacy within the PAP between the pro-communists and the non-communists.

Subsequently, two rival trade union federations were formed: The Singapore Association of Trade Unions (SATU) and the NTUC, which the PAP backed.

Barisan Socialis, originally the breakaway faction of the PAP and the leading opposition party in self-governing Singapore, backed the SATU. 

SATU became an illegal association in 1963 because of its militant industrial action such as strikes.

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS POST-COVID

Covid-19 has resulted in massive disruptions at the workplace.

Thoughtful and bold moves are needed to ensure tripartism remains relevant and fit for purpose in the new normal.

As the recent discussions in Parliament over minimum wage and progressive wage models demonstrate, tripartism today is not just about maintaining industrial peace but also about ensuring that workers’ rights and interests are of paramount concern to the unions, employers, and the Government.

Tripartism is predicated on sustaining and growing trust among the tripartite stakeholders. It must espouse a deep commitment to fairness, the taking of a long-term view of societal wellbeing, and a practical approach to problem solving.

Ultimately, such partnerships must solve problems fairly, rather than to achieve some Pareto-optimal resolution. 

There is often the perception, accurate or otherwise, that workers bear a disproportionate burden during economic hard times while corporate entities reap the lion’s share of the benefits when things turn around.

Critics point to how quickly wages are cut but wage restorations take much longer, even as profits are paid out to shareholders. 

A common gripe is how the employers’ Central Provident Fund contribution rate has not been fully restored for more than 10 years now.

If one stakeholder is always giving in or having to bend backwards, then all bets are off that the tripartite trust can be maintained.

To be clear, close ties between the labour movement and the Government are necessary. 

According to Mr Lee, this symbiotic relationship is “an enduring and productive relationship and the foundation of harmonious tripartite relations, and Singapore’s sustained economic success”.

This Singapore-style corporatism, in which economic decisions are achieved through negotiation between entities representing interest groups, has been a cornerstone of Singapore’s economic development.

REVOLVING DOOR?

Yet there are also legitimate concerns over the revolving door between the PAP and NTUC.

First, it presupposes that the PAP’s interests are coterminous with those of the Government, and that the PAP’s interests are also the NTUC’s.

While interests and concerns of the tripartite partners are often aligned or shared, they should not merge as that invariably subordinates the interests of one stakeholder and this compromises the autonomy and agency of the weaker stakeholder.

The tripartite partners should also relate to each other at arm’s length to maintain their autonomy, which enables them to best represent the constituency and interests they are entrusted with.

Further, the standing and legitimacy of the PAP will impact upon the NTUC and vice-versa. If NTUC is not deemed to be doing enough to protect workers’ rights and interests, that assessment will likely be attributed to the ruling party as well.

Thirdly, with a more competitive political landscape, as Mr Lee himself acknowledged, it will not be surprising if PAP-NTUC ties come under greater scrutiny.

Might the closer tie-up also make the NTUC a para-political organisation?

Can opposition parties cultivate their own interest groups or a union not affiliated with the NTUC? Will this result in industrial relations becoming heavily politicised as they were in the 1950s and 1960s?

In form, this proposed PAP-NTUC collaboration is not new. It signals that the PAP is keen to burnish its credentials as a mass movement, occupying the broad middle ground.

The relationship appears to be moving beyond being a strategic partnership to one where the PAP co-opts the NTUC and where the fate and fortunes of the PAP and NTUC are intimately tied to one another.

Some restlessness in industrial relations need not be bad. Tripartite partners would be kept on their toes and not take each other and industrial peace, which is not preordained, for granted.

What is most critical is the substance of the close ties. Such ties should enable the labour movement to promote and protect workers’ rights and interests without fear or favour while also balancing the national imperatives.

How a closer union between PAP and NTUC will be perceived and received by the unionists, the PAP members, businesses and the general public matters immensely.

Symbiotic partnerships occur primarily because they are mutually beneficial to the partners. 

What is often forgotten of symbiosis in nature is that no one partner significantly alters the behaviour or physiology of the other. They remain distinct.

The fundamental concern with the PAP-NTUC relationship deepening is that of NTUC not forging its own path in going the extra mile for workers in these challenging times. 

Such is perhaps the inevitable outcome of the PAP and the NTUC becoming virtually synonymous with each other.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Eugene K B Tan is an associate professor at the Singapore Management University School of Law.