Every year on 9 August, Singapore confers the National Day Awards on individuals who have given exemplary service to the nation. The awards recognise contributions across the public service, the Labour Movement, community work, the arts, the private sector, and beyond.
This year, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that 7,491 individuals will receive the national honours. Among them are five leaders from the Labour Movement conferred the Public Service Medal for their many years of dedication to uplifting the lives of Singapore’s workers.
They lead very different groups of workers – from hotel staff to plant technicians, Tamil teachers to media professionals, freelancers to delivery riders. Yet when we sat down with each of them ahead of National Day and asked what Singapore meant to them, every one gave the same one-word answer: “Home.”
Here are their stories.
For Julie Cheong, Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU) President and NTUC Central Committee member, more than 25 years in the Labour Movement all come back to a simple idea: no worker should be left behind.
That conviction was tested during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the Branch Chairperson at Four Seasons Hotel Singapore, Ms Cheong volunteered the first batch of her own colleagues to be redeployed as Safety Ambassadors rather than see them lose their jobs.
“We all agreed, as tripartite partners, that we wanted to keep jobs. So we had to find ways to save jobs,” she recalled.
Her advocacy helped safeguard livelihoods across the hotel and services sectors at a moment when many feared the worst.
Under her leadership of the union, FDAWU has grown to more than 57,000 members.
Ms Cheong also lends the workers’ perspective to several tripartite platforms in the hotel industry, including the Hotel Transformation Steering Committee and the Hotel Innovation Committee, and serves as a Board of Trustee member of the NTUC-U Care and the NTUC Education and Training Fund.
Ask her what she is proudest of, and the answer is immediate: keeping people employed.
“You don’t leave each other behind,” she said. It is the same instinct that shapes how she sees the union’s mission today: “We have this slogan – every worker matters.”
Her message to workers this National Day is just as personal: “Spend more time with your family, and love yourself.”
Chew Boon Jin has been a union leader since 2006, and President of the ExxonMobil Singapore Employees Union (EMSEU) since 2016. Throughout, he has held to a plain but demanding belief about what workers need most.
“The most important thing for a worker is to have a job, to remain employable, not only now, but for the future,” he said.
It is why Mr Chew has pushed consistently for training and upskilling, engaging company management to strengthen training frameworks so that workers stay relevant as their industry changes.
“I lived through the internet revolution, and now it’s AI. Things are forever changing,” he noted.
His approach at the negotiating table is built on the same steadiness: working “in a collaborative way, with mutual respect, dialogue, and to negotiate in good faith.”
That philosophy has strengthened trust between workers and management and delivered sustained gains for employees.
At the national level, Mr Chew contributes through several NTUC committees – including the International Relations Committee, the OPEC Cluster Committee, and the NTUC Club Management Council – and represents Singapore’s workers internationally through platforms such as IndustriALL.
Those conversations have deepened his appreciation of Singapore’s tripartite model.
Overseas unionists were once sceptical of it, he said – until they saw that it was effective. Still, he is clear-eyed about what makes it possible: “Without a stable government that consistently supports the union, tripartism won’t work.”
Reflecting on the nation’s journey, his conclusion is heartfelt and hard-earned from years of travel: “There is no better country than Singapore.”
When Danapal Kumar took over as President of the Singapore Tamil Teachers’ Union (STTU) in 2020, in the thick of the pandemic, he saw a group of educators carrying more than their fair share.
“They needed a voice. I wanted to be like a brother, someone they can share their stories with,” he said.
That closeness has shaped a leadership defined by advocacy. Mr Danapal coordinated with fellow mother-tongue teachers’ unions to arrange a dialogue session with the Minister for Education, giving Tamil teachers a platform to raise their concerns directly.
He has campaigned to ease their workload, and to allow teachers to take leave to observe Thaipusam – a request he frames in the simplest terms: “If a teacher wants to attend a religious event, I think we should allow it. Just let us celebrate.”
He is equally attentive to teachers’ well-being, championing mental wellness workshops and initiatives to help educators rediscover the joy of teaching.
“We want our students to learn joyfully. But for that, our teachers must be joyful,” he said.
Beyond the classroom, he mentors new teachers into union work, determined to nurture the next generation of servant leaders.
His National Day message carries the conviction of a man who sees teaching as nation-building: “We are building the future of our nation. The nation needs us.”
David Teo’s journey with the Labour Movement stretches back almost four decades, beginning with the Singapore Press Holdings Employees’ Union and continuing through the merger that gave rise to the Creative Media and Publishing Union (CMPU), which he now leads as President.
Long before workplace fairness legislation existed, Mr Teo was a vocal advocate against age discrimination.
“Age should not be a factor for discriminating against anybody,” he said, a stance that helped shape more progressive attitudes towards senior workers in his sector.
His guiding priority as a leader has been to keep members not just employed, but employable: “My job is not only to ensure they keep their job, but to make sure they are relevant for their future jobs.”
Colleagues describe him as a calm negotiator, a quality he traces to a disciplined refusal to let emotion take the wheel.
“Do not let emotions run you. At the end of the day, whatever decision has been made, the sun will set and the sun will rise,” he said.
Characteristically, he deflects the credit for his recognition to those around him.
“This nomination does not go only to me. The IROs [Industrial Relations Officers] do the groundwork, and I just deliver,” said Mr Teo.
His message to workers this National Day is one of quiet resilience: “Stay safe, embrace change, and we’ll get through all difficulties.”
Across more than two decades with the Labour Movement, Jean See became a leading voice for a group of workers who long had few to speak for them.
Her advocacy took shape across a range of roles. As the former Director of NTUC’s U FSE Unit – now known as NTUC Freelancer – and as Executive Secretary of several NTUC-affiliated associations, she gave voice to a broad cross-section of self-employed workers: the National Delivery Champions Association (NDCA), the National Instructors and Coaches Association (NICA), and the Visual, Audio, Creative Content Professionals Association (Singapore) (VICPA).
Working through these roles, Ms See helped shape the Platform Workers Bill, translating workers’ lived experiences into policy – riders who, through platform work, could finally “work in their own neighbourhood” while caring for family.
As the 14th Labour Movement representative since 1992 to be appointed a Nominated Member of Parliament, she carried those concerns to the highest platform in the land.
“I’m a steward representing the people who put their faith in NTUC to bring their voice to a national level,” she said.
She is clear-eyed about what makes Singapore’s model work – and what could undo it.
“It is not tripartism if the actors who are part of this ecosystem do not actually work together,” she said, arguing that the partnership must be continually strengthened as uncertainty becomes the order of the day.
Her message to the workers she represents is one of steady reassurance: “Don’t give up – NTUC’s behind you.”
The complete list of the 2026 National Day Awardees is available on the Prime Minister's Office website.
