Straits Times, 27.02.04
SM LEE MEETS SIA PILOTS
Govt will ensure SIA acts 'in good faith'
No sacred cows on past agreements; both company and union must work towards NWC recommendations
By Rebecca Lee
AS THE major shareholder of Singapore Airlines (SIA), the Government will make sure the airline does a revamp of its human resource practices and also make a fresh start with the pilots.
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew added that he was confident that with a new 'gentler' chief executive officer in place, industrial relations at the national carrier will change for the better.
Fourteen SIA pilots who met SM Lee at the Istana yesterday pledged to start things on a clean slate and work at rebuilding trust with the airline's management.
However, they also asked for assurances that SIA management too will work towards change, because 'it takes two hands to clap', as Air Line Pilots Association Singapore (Alpa-S) president Mok Hin Choon put it.
Giving his backing yesterday, SM Lee said: 'I can assure you that the Government will make sure that SIA acts in good faith.
'We are the majority owners, we will ensure that they act in the interest of the company,' he said, adding this will require cooperation, trust and confidence in the leaders of the company.
He added that particularly with a new CEO, Mr Chew Choon Seng, in place, the airline can make a fresh start.
'I believe there is a chance with Chew Choon Seng, because he is a gentle sort of person, I have dealt with him. He's not hard... he's open, he's also starting on a new slate,' SM Lee said.
Highlighting one of the areas of HR management which needs to be relooked, he said each head of department at the company also needed to manage HR, instead of simply relying on the company's HR department.
SM Lee also commented on the 'mistake' SIA made in the way it let go of 26 pilots last year. It had retrenched them and paid out benefits when in effect they should have been dismissed for not performing up to mark.
'I'd tell them, 'You're not up to mark, you go',' he said.
Blaming the mishandling of the matter on the weakness of the management, Mr Lee also made the point that it was not the job of unions to protect 'laggards'.
'The job of union leaders is not to protect the malingerers,' he said.
He also stressed that going forward, there would be 'no sacred cows' in terms of past agreements and positions taken by either side.
'The first premise is that there are no sacred cows. All cows can be slaughtered.'
As the airline industry wrestles with the wrenching changes of the past few years - the advent of new long-haul aircraft and low-cost carriers, and consolidation in the business - SIA must be nimble and flexible to stay on top.
It will thus have to follow the recommendations made by the National Wages Council (NWC), such as in changing its medical benefits scheme and in the capping of retrenchment benefits.
'Therefore, whether it's a cap on retrenchment or the maximum-minimum wage, you have to follow NWC recommendations because there are reasons for it and valid reasons,' said Mr Lee.
For example, the move away from the seniority-based wage system by reducing the maximum-minimum salary range was to prevent a situation where senior workers were the ones who were retrenched simply because they were more costly. The aim was to keep people employable longer.
Capt Mok said the pilots were in favour of a more flexible wage system as their salary structure was already very variable.
However, a more thorny issue may prove to be the move to change the company's medical benefits to a co-payment scheme.
Noting that he did not want to see a situation where pilots came to work in ill health, Capt Mok said that medical benefits were 'something that is quite essential for pilots'.
However, acknowledging that SIA has been 'very generous' in terms of these benefits, he said: 'I hear the need for a change and we will have to look at the details.'
Another change that may be in the works: Limiting the backdating period of a collective agreement (CA) to three months.
Currently, the established industrial relations practice allows CAs to be backdated to the date they expire. This sometimes leads to drawn-out negotiations as both sides stall for time.
Summing up the need for SIA to follow the NWC guidelines - drawn up by the Government, employers and unions - SM Lee said: 'Everything we do is to balance the interest of our citizens and advance the lot as much as we can, that's the purpose.'