Photo by Alvin Toh
The strong resolve of a union leader led to a positive outcome for the Singapore Industrial & Services Employees' Union (SISEU) and its members after the Industrial Arbitration Court (IAC) ruled in favour of them on 28 March 2013.
Mr Abdul Aziz Mohamed (pictured above),the union's Branch Chairman at First Defense Services Pte Ltd, stood as a pillar of strength in the face of adversity as his members and fellow colleagues battled through tough times to secure their annual increments which were due in 2011.
SISEU, the union that represents the workers submitted the case to the IAC on 26 June 2012 after several attempts at negotiating with First Defense Services to pay the workers their increments came to a deadlock and no progress was made.
Mr Abdul Aziz, who sat through meetings in attempting to negotiate increments for the workers, shared on the trying times for the workers. He said: "At first, many of the workers were discouraged and disheartened. There were times members would call me up in the middle of the night to share about their concerns and I would try to encourage them to hold on because I believe that there would be a positive outcome (for this case)."
The outcome was indeed a positive one for the union members as the Court ordered their company First Defense Services Pte Ltd to pay 41 affected workers annual increments for 2011. The company is required to pay a built-in quantum of $50 per month for employees earning up to $2,000, including those earning $2,000 per month.
For employees earning above $2,000 per month, the company is required to pay a built-in increment of 2.5 per cent. Seven of the workers who have worked for less than a year as at 1 July 2011 will receive pro-rated increments.
NTUC Legal Services Department Director Patrick Tay, who represented the workers in Court, shared that he was glad that the outcome was in favour of the workers as the majority of the workers were low-wage and were a vulnerable group of workers.
Although the journey came with many challenges, Mr Abdul Aziz believes that the effort to help his members were well worth it. He said: “With SISEU's strong encouragement and guidance, we finally saw a good outcome. The workers really appreciate what the union has done. I feel great to have helped them. It's been a long journey, many people might have given up but we fought all the way. Being there for my members, it shows that someone cares for them.
"We want to thank all our SISEU colleagues and IROs (Industrial Relations Officers) for helping and standing by our side. They held briefing sessions and kept us updated on the progress and explained to us the situation whenever we hit a deadlock. We look forward to continue working hard for the company. We want to work together for win-win solutions."
Moving forward, the union hopes to work together with the management and ensure that future negotiations will be conducted in a more transparent manner, added SISEU Executive Secretary Sylvia Choo.
